Why Bill Gates Wants to Reinvent the Toilet

And isn't there a far more obvious answer to too much human poop and not enough water?

STOP HAVING SEVEN CHILDREN A PIECE!!!

Bring second and third world country's fertility rate to at or below replacement, and watch all those problems disappear and quality of life drastically increase.
 
kumquat said:
And how many people can this thing support full-time?
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One household of 4 for this setup, full-time. This one doesn't create electricity, but it creates usable soil, doesn't require any infrastructure, and on top of it doesn't require any sort of infrastructure.
 
You're saying this tiny pit can take 2-4 people shitting in it a day, every day, and handle it effectively?
 
Aussie toilets have a two button mechanism. One small flush, just barely enough to complete a siphon and one bowl-scrubber flush for those mornings after large beef dinners. I think if we adopted that it would save a lot of water.
 
kumquat said:
You're saying this tiny pit can take 2-4 people shitting in it a day, every day, and handle it effectively?
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I have seen some DIY setups in my searches that create methane, create usable soil, etc. They can support anywhere from 2 to 8 people easily from what I saw in my searches, depending on how much of a waste container is created. It's actually pretty interesting how efficient these things are.
 
Ducman69 said:
And isn't there a far more obvious answer to too much human poop and not enough water?

STOP HAVING SEVEN CHILDREN A PIECE!!!

Bring second and third world country's fertility rate to at or below replacement, and watch all those problems disappear and quality of life drastically increase.
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Fertility rates decrease as infant mortality rates / wealth increases. When the odds are that 2-3 of your children will die, and 3-4 children are needed to generate enough economic activity to support you in your old age, it is the logical thing to do. You are asking them, in the current state of things, to gamble everything on 1-2 kids, and statistically it isn't a good bet.
 
Ducman69 said:
Having lived in east asia, I can tell you why they have squat toilets.

Poverty. Plain and simple. A hole in the ground is cheaper than an expensive porcelain throne.

And the seated toilet is not a new invention. The great Roman empire are the ones that spread modern plumbing systems, and made popular seated toilets.

So thank you Rome for advancing the masses pooping in dug holes to modern hygiene with aqueducts, public baths, exfoliating cleansers,water fountains, toilets, and more.
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Squat toilets are no more unclean that seated. Squat toilets also help you get all of the shit out of your ass, where a seated toilet isn't ideal for the muscles that push said shit out of your ass.
 
wizdum said:
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the INCINOLET!

Everything is better with fire.
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Requires a vent. Fuck no.

I'd be working out in the yard and the kids in the house would flush that thing and next thing I know I'd be smelling burnt poop all over the back yard. No thank you.
 
I found the following advantage on the squat toilet wiki to be particularly funny:

Squatting might help to build the required exhaust pressure more comfortably and quickly.
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Sounds like a test for the Mythbusters! :D
 
kumquat said:
What do you mean "we"?

Outhouses work well for places with very low population density. You think Western cities had outhouses before modern plumbing? Not quite. The excrement literally flowed down ditches in the streets.
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For major cities (if there even are any in the third world) they could still use the flame toilets.
 
-The water deficient areas will have trouble using any water based waste disposal mechanism so this could be an interesting proposition.
On squatting..... It's better. My children have a stool in the bathroom for brushing their teeth and the like. I have been using it for propping my feet up while I take a dump for several years now. I'll never go back. Just try it for a couple months. It really helps get the lead out. When you push it doesn't feel like your gut is going to blow up. If feels like all the force is going to excrete waste. I wasn't aware of how bad taking a dump in the normal western position until I made a change. I'd have a squattie potty if the wife would let me. I keep threatening to just throw the commode out the window and replace it but she doesn't need any more excuses for her behavior.
 
NickJames said:
Our current European and American toilets are awful to be honest. Most of the time they sit way too high and don't properly support. There's also the whole hemorrhoids issue.
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I think that may be due to a lack of fiber in your diet matey.
 
They need to use the toilet that are being use on the space shuttle. Well something similar. I'm getting sick of shit splattering every where. Freaking disgusting.
 
ASIA911 said:
They need to use the toilet that are being use on the space shuttle. Well something similar. I'm getting sick of shit splattering every where. Freaking disgusting.
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Sounds like a personal problem


tumblr_ljddtbhRMW1qa55edo1_500.jpg
 
just use the excrement as fertilizers... it grows some of the best (organic) food and the best thing about it is that it's totally recycled. generations have use this for growing food for thousands of years.
 
Sir_Poop_Alot said:
just use the excrement as fertilizers... it grows some of the best (organic) food and the best thing about it is that it's totally recycled. generations have use this for growing food for thousands of years.
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Good luck getting the general US public to get around the basic "gross" factor of it. Aint gonna happen.
 
Phoenix333 said:
Limited water resources... on a planet with over 2/3 surface area is liquid water. :rolleyes:
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Because all water is drinkable.

Also, those squat toilets make sense. I sometimes sit over 30 mins on the shitter trying to get it all out.
But wouldn't older people have problems with it?
 
S-F said:
On squatting..... It's better. My children have a stool in the bathroom for brushing their teeth and the like. I have been using it for propping my feet up while I take a dump for several years now. I'll never go back. Just try it for a couple months.
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Uhhh, yeah, I tried it... for years unfortunately.

Then my dad moved back to a first world country, and I'm never crapping in a hole like a monkey again. I enjoy my porcelain throne with the latest copy of Motorcyclist or Popular Mechanics, thank you very much.
 
Squatting is natural for the body. Poop has to make a pretty sharp turn on the way out when seated which is not easy on the body. Squatting gives the poo a straight shot out and is much easier. BTW....the Roman toilets were probably squatters.

That said....I fucking hate squatting. I live in China and most the toilets here are squatters. I can do it, I have even done so on a train in motion....but it's not fun. Most Westerners, including myself, can not squat properly. If your heels can not touch the floor while squatting it's quite difficult on your legs. If they can...it's fine.

I'll squat in an emergency but you can be damn sure there is a porcelain throne in my house. It's a 2 button flusher as has been mentioned in this thread earlier. One button for the normal dump/pee and another for the heavy work. Honestly, I do not see why those 2 button flushers are not mandatory everywhere.

Click here for more info on pooping then you probably want.
 
Freezebyte said:
Good luck getting the general US public to get around the basic "gross" factor of it. Aint gonna happen.
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I'm pretty sure NYC ships their shit to TX to be used as fertilizer. Could of sworn I read an article about it years ago, can't find it now.
 
Human excrement needs to be treated with bacteria before it is used as fertilizer. We don't exactly eat natural food. Especially fat people.
 
TwistedAegis said:
I'm pretty sure NYC ships their shit to TX to be used as fertilizer. Could of sworn I read an article about it years ago, can't find it now.
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As a self elected representative of TX i would like to deny this claim >.>

I will never ever trade my elongated bowl 5 GPF toilet for a hole in the floor.
 
mannyman said:
As a self elected representative of TX i would like to deny this claim >.>
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Well then, you just had to double dog dare me. ;)

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/25/nyregion/texas-town-and-fertilizer-from-that-city.html?scp=1&sq=sewage%20fertilizer%20texas&st=cse said:
Since July, trains have been arriving at a ranch here, some 85 miles east of El Paso, bringing an average of 225 tons a day of treated human waste that New York used to dump at sea until that was prohibited last July 1.
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Of course, that was back in '93. Who knows if that practice continues; I know NY continues to ship out it's human waste, but not sure just where. God that seems ridiculous, trucking a bunch of shit that far. Please god never let me get in an accident with a truck carrying nothing but sewage.
 
TwistedAegis said:
Well then, you just had to double dog dare me. ;)



Of course, that was back in '93. Who knows if that practice continues; I know NY continues to ship out it's human waste, but not sure just where. God that seems ridiculous, trucking a bunch of shit that far. Please god never let me get in an accident with a truck carrying nothing but sewage.
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I Lol'ed Hard about the thought of wrecking into a large sewer truck, They might be using a boat to transport it.

Now i just thought about a boat wreck full of sewage, Not as funny.
 
I don't understand the whole anti-squat stigma. The human body is designed to poop that way. Western toilets are for comfort and all that, but they actually weaken the muscles in that part of the body causing health problems in the long-term and in old age.

Also, whoever countered the issue of over-fertility in poor nations with the statement about survival rates, I give you a +1 for being intelligent.
 
Spoonmaster said:
I don't understand the whole anti-squat stigma. The human body is designed to poop that way. Western toilets are for comfort and all that, but they actually weaken the muscles in that part of the body causing health problems in the long-term and in old age.

Also, whoever countered the issue of over-fertility in poor nations with the statement about survival rates, I give you a +1 for being intelligent.
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People like to distance them self's from stuff that would make you see them as less "Evolved" or at least thats what i think it is.
 
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