In 2011, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge. It aims to "transform toilet technologies to manage human waste safely and effectively," via Popular Mechanics.
Now, Samsung has finally created a technology of a safe and efficient toilet that can turn your poop into ashes - in partnership with the foundation.
With the invention, instead of flushing down your excrement to septic tanks, the technology from Samsung will apply heat treatment to incinerate your poop to become ashes, as per Tech Times.
Reinvent the Toilet Challenge Aims to Solve World's Problem of Unsafe Sanitation
With the aim of helping people in developing countries who are using unsafe sanitation, the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge was launched by the Gates Foundation in 2011.
Now, Samsung, the South Korean giant, managed to come up with a more eco-friendly technology that can be utilized to dispose of human waste.
The answer to the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge came from Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, the research and development arm of Samsung Electronics.
According to a Samsung press release, after three years of research and development, the team came up with the finished core technologies and a "successfully developed and tested prototype."
As part of the Korean tech giant and foundation's partnership, the prototype was presented to Gates.
The said prototype is good for household use. Moreover, components and modular technology were developed with the aim of easy commercialization.
The new prototype by Samsung utilizes heat treatment of human excrement. Moreover, it will use bioprocessing to kill pathogens from human waste so that the ashes will be safe for the environment.
The treated water of the toilet system will be fully recyclable. As part of the disposal process, the solid waste will be dehydrated, dried, and combusted into ashes. On the other hand, a biological purification process will be applied to the liquid waste.
Samsung to Offer Royalty-Free Licenses of Patents
Interesting Engineering cited World Health Organization and UNICEF, saying that about 3.6 billion people around the world have unsafe sanitation facilities.
Because of unsafe sanitation, half a million children under age 5 die every year due to diarrheal diseases.
With the aim of solving the world's severe problem with sanitation, the foundation has played the role of venture capitalist through its Reinvent the Toilet Challenges.
The non-profit organization has sparked technological advancements to create a toilet prototype in partnership with Samsung.
The latest technology from Samsung could be a game changer for developing nations that are experiencing problems when it comes to human waste disposal.
During the commercialization state, Samsung plans to offer royalty-free licenses of patents related to the project to developing countries.
The Korean giant also said that they would work with the foundation to enable mass production of the technology.
The prototype invented by Samsung is dubbed energy efficient. The toilet prototype does not require water.
Since the technology also utilizes bioprocessing, the ashes from the incarcerated human waste will be free of pathogens, making it safe for the environment.
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