When I visited it wasn't that well used, even through paying people (a very small sum). As some of you know we operate a system in Cuddalore where we collect, transport, store and sell both (composted) faeces and (treated) urine from 3,500 users. It makes a small profit. We are hoping to expand it later this year.

Ah-ha, yes SCOPE. That'll be this: www.scopetrichy.com/Urine_Bank_and_Struvite.asp

I heard the chief of SCOPE speak once, quite an impressive thing they're doing.

this very same concept was launched in India in 2008 in Musiri where they built a public toilet and provided cards to the people which was ticked everytime the people use the toilet and end of the month an individual had enough to buy a local burger. The money was not a lot but enough to educate people that faeces is a valuable resource. I am not aware of the status of the project. They had also intended to start the urine bank where people could bring and deposit their urine and get money in return.

SCOPE a local NGO and a SuSanA partner had piloted this project. Maybe we can ask them to provide an update on this project

Here is a link to the article articles.cnn.com/2008-07-07/world/india....tilizers?_s=PM:WORLD

cheers

Good to read here the issues of making better & faster human waste compost. Very much a priority.
In the SaniFert Topic within SuSanA is this idea from Elmer Sayre:

"We originally used lactic acid bacteria or “lacto-bacilli” in our small pig farm at the WAND Foundation training center. We used it to control odor and to decompose pig feces and urine and it works! So we said, why not use to decompose and transform into organic fertilizer human waste in the same manner. How to make lactic-acid bacteria? Pour rice wash on a container and allow air gap at least 75%. Put the container in an area with no direct sunlight. Lactic acid bacteria will gather in 5-7 days. Then saturate the liquid with milk after 7 days. In 7 days, carbohydrate, protein and fat will float leaving a yellowish liquid. This liquid is your “serum” which you can use to treat your humanure in a ratio of 1:20 (1 serum, 20 water). Store the serum in a cool place, occasionally add sugar to feed it. Spray or add them to the humanure pile. Then you have it."

Agreed, the system here is a small vessel with urine diversion that somebody regularly collects/empties.

I'm no economist, I don't know how well it would work - possibily it requires bigger/unconventional thinking so that the material is centrally treated and spread to land in controlled circumstances, where crops are grown and then sold to pay for it. But I like it.

Just maybe, even if the economic incentive program falls apart after 3-5 years, the behavioral change and social pressure of using 'appropriate toilets' will continue in the community. However, let's not make it a transition to old-idea pit latrines where the problem is out of sight/out of mind until the floods come or the well is contaminated. The TEDx talk mentioned here offers quite a complex 'toilet', yet at least it uses the waste as a resource and promotes the incentive for behavioral change.

I've been interested to read the rare example of projects that paid users to use facilities.

For example the Toilet Plus model, also discussed in this TEDx talk: vid .

I have some doubts about the economics of making that work, and whether farmers would see value in feces compost to the extent of being able to fund users sanitation. Given the poor state of many co-composting facilities, I'm generally not sure selling any sludge compost is a great idea.

But I really like the idea of paying people to use sanitation facilities. Does anyone have other experiences of this, the sustainability and efficiency?