Hi Alice,

Oh you meant converted shipping containers, I see! I have changed the thread title and the sub-category accordingly now.

I'd say converting shipping containers to sanitation facility is quite common and seems to work fine.

A SuSanA case study from 2010 comes to mind:
Community ablution blocks with sewers or infiltration, eThekwini (Durban), South Africa - Case study of sustainable sanitation projects
www.susana.org/en/knowledge-hub/resource.../library/details/792

If you want, I could ask Chris Buckley to tell us more about how that worked out in the longer term since the publication is from 9 years ago.

Kind regards,
Elisabeth

Hi Alice,

Thank you for starting this thread. I'm interested in the use of shipping containers for toilet and hygiene facilities.

The June Key Delta Community Center (5940 N. Albina St, Portland, OR | 97217) is the beautiful and functional headquarters of the Portland Deltas, a dynamic and creative women's service club. Fully plumbed and sewered restrooms are located in a 40-foot shipping container that is integrated into the total design. The club's page on Sustainable Green Building shows their headquarters and has many resources.

International architecture that uses 40-foot shipping containers is well documented on line:
Dezeen - Shipping container architecture and design www.dezeen.com/tag/shipping-containers/
Designboom - 151 articles on shipping container architecture www.designboom.com/tag/shipping-container-architecture/
Wikipedia - Shipping container architecture en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_container_architecture
Flacon structures - Shipping container restrooms www.falconstructures.com/case-study-ship...-container-restrooms

I hope that Forum users with experience re-purposing shipping containers will contribute their experiences here.

Carol

Dear Elisabeth,

thank you for your reply.
I believe there is a misunderstanding: by sanitation containers I do not mean container-based sanitation.
Kindly find attached a picture of the object in question (they could come up with a less confusing name though).
After exchanging ideas with our colleagues in Jordan, I gathered the information that these containers last quite long and are connected to the school sewer system.
These sanitary containers will be introduced as a temporary to intermediate solution to improve the access to adequate and safely managed service in cases such as: during construction, or for schools in rural areas with insufficient allocation for constructing new units in the current time, and rented schools, or schools where the current sanitation facilities are insufficient and the demand required a quick solution as in many cases it take long response time between planning to construct, tendering for designs, tendering for construction, implementation and later hander over and sometimes delays due to financial allocations.

I was wondering whether other organisations have experiences with such containers to share.

Best wishes,
Alice

Hi Alice,

Yes, the containers of a container-based sanitation system are usually transported to a treatment site. Where do you transport them to at your schools in Jordan? Do the schools do their own treatment?
What did you mean by: "can they even be connected to the sewer-system?"? I guess the content could be dumped into a sewer manhole but I wonder if the sewerage utility would agree to that and if yes, what fees they would charge.

I wonder if you have read the Wikipedia article about container-based sanitation? See:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container-based_sanitation
If yes, which aspects would you say are not yet well described in the article?

And have you heard of the CBS Alliance? Maybe the information contained on their website can help you:
www.cbsa.global/#/home

(actually I know very little about the CBS alliance. It would be great if they could introduce themselves here on the forum; I'll ask them).

Do you have some photos to share of the CBS system that you have installed in Jordan? How is it going?

Regards,
Elisabeth

Dear Working Group Community!

As construction of sanitary facilities at schools in Jordan is a costly and protracted process, sanitation containers present a cost-efficient alternative solution. An innovative barrier-free design has been developed, which will cater to the needs of pupils with disabilities.
In Jordan, sanitation containers are passed on among all the schools, and each container will be utilized over and over. Furthermore, they can be used in remote areas and in rented schools where no construction works can be executed.

However, I cannot find any information regarding the transport and treatment of excreta when sanitation containers are used.
Are the containers usually transported to a treatment site? Or can they even be connected to the sewer-system?
Has anyone ever seen a sanitation container in Jordan?

Looking forward to your feedback!

Best,
Alice