U of T Engineers Put Their Heads Together to Reinvent the Toilet | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

TORONTO, Ontario -- I hope you’re sitting down – here’s a challenge for you.

Design a toilet that’s off-the-grid – no running water, no sewerage system, no electricity. Make sure it’s self-contained: human waste goes in; clean water, carbon dioxide, mineral ash (for fertilizer) and energy comes out, in about 24 hours. Oh yes, and it has to work for only five cents per user, per day.

That’s the problem the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation put in front of leading universities worldwide through the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge. The Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto was one of eight schools that was awarded almost $400,000 to think outside the box about water closets.

To read the full press release, visit the University of Toronto web site.