Easy Latrine

Target SDGs

Market Suggested Retail Price

$23.00

Target Users (Target Impact Group)

Household, Community

Distributors / Implementing Organizations

Local entrepreneurs and independent enterprises distribute the Easy Latrine. ^{Interview with Representative}

Competitive Landscape

Direct competitors include Digni-Loo, Tiger Toilet, and DuraSan Latrine.

Countries

Cambodia, Nepal

Manufacturing/Building Method

The Easy Latrine is produced by individual manufacturers (such as village masons) across the seven provinces in Cambodia and in 12 districts in the Terai region of Nepal. These manufacturers use a moveable steel ring mold and concrete to build three receptacles bound by the ash of rice husks — material that’s readily at hand and much cheaper than cement. Typically, manufacturers are able to produce 30 rings per day, which results in ten 3-ring latrine units per day. ^{Interview with Representative}

Intellectural Property Type

Open-source

User Provision Model

The Easy Latrine can be purchased through local retailers. iDE employs a unique version of sanitation marketing (SanMark) that sees people not as beneficiaries of development services but as potential customers investing in a good or service. This approach ensures that only those products that are desirable to consumers, feasible to produce in the local context, and viable to carry forward are made. iDE’s SanMark approach catalyzes market forces, satisfying the demand for affordable and aspirational sanitation products, and creating sustainable supply-side businesses that allow entrepreneurs to make a living selling sanitation products. No subsidies are offered, as these only serve to distort and depress market forces. Instead, the Easy Latrine is marketed at an affordable price point that allows customers to either purchase it outright or use loans to finance their purchase. ^{Interview with Representative}

Distributions to Date Status

As of June 2015, 181,500 Easy Latrines have been sold in Cambodia and Nepal.Interview with Representative

Design Specifications

The Easy Latrine consists of a pan, a bucket of water with a ladle, and pipes to connect a hut to a latrine buried in the ground. The latrine itself has three receptacles made of rings of concrete bound by the ash of rice husks. Once a receptacle is full, it can be capped, and after two years, the sediment can be used as compost.

Dry Ring: Dia. 0.8 m, Height 0.5 m, Thickness 4 cm, 88 kg

Ring Cover: Dia. 0.8 m, Thickness 4 cm, 48 - 49 kg

Chamber Box (small) Size: L 45 cm, W 30 cm, H 40 cm, Th 3 cm, 53 kg

Chamber Box (big) Size: 60 cm², H 30 cm, Th 3 cm, 68 kg

Concrete Slab Size: 80 cm square, Th 4 cm, 38.5 kg

Tile Slab Size: 80 cm square, Th 4 cm, 41 kg

Ceramic Pan Size: 390 mm x 490 mm, 3.5 kg

Product Schematics

Technical Support

iDE provides ongoing technical training to manufacturers. While not technical in nature, iDE’s SanMark approach works to bolster supply-side forces, including increasing the capacity of latrine business owners (LBOs) to market and sell their products. iDE provides ongoing training to interested businesses in sanitation and hygiene education, latrine production, and basic business and sales management. ^{Interview with Representative}.

Replacement Components

Replacement components for the Easy Latrine are available from local retailers.^{Interview with Representative}

Lifecycle

iDE expects the Easy Latrine to last 5-10 years before it needs to be emptied depending on family size. Most families opt to install a second pit that uses the same above-ground components but has the underground pipes diverted to another pit. ^{Interview with Representative}

Manufacturer Specified Performance Parameters

Pits can be emptied after two years, as the waste becomes safe to compost at that time. ^{Interview with Representative}

Vetted Performance Status

iDE’s regional technical staff conduct monthly quality checks. These staff members test and inspect randomly selected products to ensure they comply with quality control standards. The quality control process is divided into four separate steps: 1) technical training, 2) production place management, 3) product quality control, and 4) maintenance and organization of stock. ^{Interview with Representative}

Safety

Safe handling of any waste material requires protective clothing.

Complementary Technical Systems

A superstructure for privacy called the Easy Shelter.

Academic Research and References

Compliance with regulations

None

Evaluation methods

iDE uses a combination of quantitative (monthly sales and manufacturing figures) and qualitative feedback from users, potential customers, and manufacturers to gather information to make improvements and modifications to their products and marketing systems. ^{Interview with Representative}

Other Information

•  Sanitation Marketing Lessons from Cambodia: A Market-Based Approach to Delivering Sanitation
• This video provides additional information about the Easy Latrine.
• A schematic of the Easy Latrine