Oct 11, 2012 The Re-inventing the Toilet Challenge
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted a “re-invent the toilet” challenge back in 2011 and awarded $400,000 in grants to eight universities. According to the World Health Organization, 2.5 billion people around the globe are without access to sanitary toilets, which results in the spread of deadly diseases. Every year, 1.5 million people—mostly those under the age of five—die from diarrhea.
Now, the top winners certainly created some very intriguing contraptions, but the problem with them is that they all require a significant infrastructure to support them — what happens when something glitches or malfunctions? Who’s to pay to fix it? How will they find the resources? It is indeed a daunting task that the most brilliant individuals are attempting to tackle, but as long as there are organizations willing to push the boundaries on the most creative solutions, its just a matter of time until its resolved.
The first video is all about the challenge and why it was started, and the second video is the first place winner of the challenge.