The Toilet Reinvention Will Help Us Save Rs 1,699 Crore A Year! Bill Gates Said.

This time, Bill Gates declared that the toilet reinvention will help us save 500,000 lives and save up to Rs 1,699 Crore ($233 billion) annually. The billionaire philanthropist’s vision always makes us surprised!

During seven years, Bill Gates and his Foundation have invested $200 million (equivalent to Rs 1,460 Crore) to research the sanitation. About 20 toilet designs to process the sludge have been created to remove pathogens and turn the human excreta into fertilizer or clean water.

Gates said on Tuesday that the technologies applied to a reinvention of the toilet would be “the most significant advances in sanitation in nearly 200 years”.

Gates shared more to 400 listeners in the Reinvented Toilet Expo that in each beaker of human excreta, there are about 200 trillion rotavirus cells, 100,000 eggs of parasitic worms, and 20 billion Shigella bacteria. The toilet reinvention will help save 500,000 infants and avoid wasting $233 billion each year in costs regarding dangerous diseases, like cholera or diarrhea. These diseases are caused by low-quality water, hygiene, and sanitation.

According to the California Institute of Technology, Gates was extremely excited about integrating an electrochemical reactor that can convert the human excreta and water into fertilizer and hydrogen. The reactor will be used as energy in hydrogen fuel cells.

The rising growth of population and urbanization has increased the burden for many cities in the world. Therefore, it’s important to look for new devices that replace waste treatment facilities and sewers. Over 50% of human waste’s volume discarded into the environment isn’t treated yet. The World Health Organization also revealed that when investing a dollar in sanitation, you will earn around $5.50.

Gates believed that the invented toilet would become a potential market and attract a lot of companies worldwide, such as LIXIL Group in Japan or Clear, CRRC Corp in China. By 2030, the unique market will yield $6 billion a year.

In a statement, Kinya Seto, the President of LIXIL Group called the toilet reinvention as a “golden opportunity”.

According to the Gates Foundation, schools, community bathroom facilities and apartment buildings are among the places that will be first installed the reinvented toilet. This type of toilet will be applicable in the households when the costs reduce and the toilets in public are widely used.