SaTo Pan

Target SDGs

Market Suggested Retail Price

$5.00

Target Users (Target Impact Group)

Household

Distributors / Implementing Organizations

RFL produce the product and distribute it to retailers in Bangladesh. Crestanks produce and sell the product in Uganda. Kentainers sell it in Kenya. American Standard developed the SaTo pan and donated many SaTo pans during their Flush for good-campaign. iDE, that developed the SaTo pan together with American Standard has distributed it a lot in Bangladesh for example. Wateraid has implemented the product in Nepal. BRAC also assisted American Standard in the development and distribution of the SaTo pan. Save the children, Food for the Poor, Plumbers Without Borders and UNHCR are other implementers.

Competitive Landscape

Direct competitors include AquaSanTec WonderLoo, Easy Latrine, and Elephant Toilet.

Regions

Africa, Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia

Countries

Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda

Manufacturing/Building Method

Mass produced. Manufacturing can and is done in target regions. At the moment there are factories in Uganda (Crestanks), Bangladesh (rflplastics), Kenya (Kentainers), India and Nigeria.

Intellectural Property Type

Patent

User Provision Model

Donations or direct sales from distributers. American Standard has had a BOGO offer for customers that when they buy a toilet, American standard donates a SaTo pan. American Standard donated around one million SaTo pans during their Flush for good-campaign.

Distributions to Date Status

As of mid-2016, over 1 million SaTo units have been installed in over 14 countries, for example Bangladesh, Uganda, Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria and the Philippines. Of these, some 500,000 SATO toilets were donated to nongovernmental organizations for installation in homes and schools in Bangladesh, and another 300,000 have been sold in Bangladesh for $2 USD each.

Design Specifications

The SaTo pan is made of low linear density polyethylene and installed over a pit latrine, normally in a cement slab. Its dimensions are height 190.5mm, length 500mm, width 40.5mm and the base has a diameter of 63.7mm. The pan has a door(where the excreta gathers) that opens when the user pours water on it so that the excreta falls into the pit. The door then closes automatically. There are variations of the pan depending on context, the Uganda version needs less water for example. In another version the user pulls a cable to open the sealer.

Technical Support

Technical support can be done by the user him/herself due to the simplicity of the product. There are instruction manuals on how to build a toilet with the pan and how to install it on a pit latrine.

Replacement Components

N/A; the product comes in a one piece.

Lifecycle

Should last at least until the pit latrine it is connected to is full. If the pan is attached to a movable slab the pan can be moved with the slab to the new pit.

Manufacturer Specified Performance Parameters

The designers made the SaTo pan to reduce disease transmission by preventing insects to come in contact with the human waste. It reduces odours and only needs very little water to flush. The designers used Human Centered Design when developing the product and hence important targets was that the pan was affordable, adapted to the squatting norm and easy to install and use.

Vetted Performance Status

Excreta can be flushed down with as little as 200mL of water ^{Brochure from manufacturer.} The product also reduces odor. It closes quickly and automatically to block smell and stop flies from entering/exiting the pit. ^{Brochure from manufacturer}

Safety

The product prevents insect from coming in contact with excreta and hence disease spread is reduced.

Complementary Technical Systems

The SaTo pan is normally attached to a cement slab placed over an open pit latrine. In a new version specially made for a twin pit latrine it is connected to tubes that leads the excreta to the pits.

Academic Research and References

Compliance with regulations

Unknown

Evaluation methods

The designers used HCD (Human Centered Design) to develop the product. They cite affordability, user friendliness and culture adaptation as important factors in the iterative prototyping process. They analyzed computational fluid dynamics to ensure good water flow.

Other Information

Reports about the making, distribution and use of the SaTo pan: 1.Fostering disruptive design innovations in sanitation marketing in Bangladesh 2.Disruptive design in sanitation marketing- lessons from product and process innovations in Bangladesh 3.Sanitation in Bangladesh: Revolution, Evolution, and New Challenges

A video from implementation in Bangladesh is found here.

An installation video from Nepal is found here.

A video showing some of the testings is found here.

American Standard received the Patent for Humanity award for the SaTo pan in 2014.

A website with information of all different versions of the SaTo pan is under development.

In September 2017 a version for a two-pit pour-flush latrine will be introduced in India, see video.