Dear Susana Forum,

My name is James Collector and I am a graduate student in Development Practice at the University of California at Berkeley. This summer of 2014, I will be interning with EcoPro, a small organization near Pondicherry in southern India. My assignment is to design a removable container for single-vault urine-diverting dry toilets. My design will be piloted and, potentially, implemented in the next phase of some 20 toilets to be built for individual households in a peri-urban village called Boodheri.

After meeting with engineers and consultants as well as reviewing literature and combing SUSANA forums, I feel prepared to consult the Forum directly.

QUESTION: Would any of you gentle readers be so kind as to share removable container designs which are NOT PLASTIC.

All non-plastic container designs will be appreciated. Additional constraints do exist (see below) but please submit any design ideas.

1) Sanitation of feces is the primary factor. In other words, how long will a full container need to be stored before its contents compost enough to be used as fertilizer. The containers will be stored on-site. There will not be a village-wide management system.

According to my research, the average human produces between 30 - 55kg of feces/year. For a family of five, the numbers are 150 - 275 kg/year + added ash/organic matter. The container must weigh less than 45kg to be movable by a single individual. Thus, if my calculations are correct, the container must be changed at least five times per year.

Other considerations:

It would be best for the containers to be easy to construct from local materials.

I understand that there are myriad behavior change elements involved.

Thank you for your attention,
James Collector

Herewith a summary of ecosan work in a village in South India where UDDTs were built with a simple design but high-quality finish, and 100% utilization. The project is being run by EcoPro, Auroville. Till date 28 toilets have been built, with a total of >200 toilets to be built.
Lucas