The Gardiner CH4 is a waterless toilet that creates an urban
infrastructure in which people trade their waste for biofuel.

For a visual explanation, click here.

Today, 40% of the global population lives without toilets. In
most places, scarcity of water renders sewer systems impossible,
while ad hoc human waste disposal spreads waterborne illnesses
that prey upon millions, and cripple developing economies.

It is crucial to address the global sanitation crisis with
creative solutions. While many NGOs are hard at work installing
composting eco-toilets for those in need, a continual challenge
is to motivate communities to look after their new toilets.
By turning human waste into a high-value commodity, energy,
the Gardiner CH4 offers plenty of incentive to sustain itself.

The GCH4 is a low-cost mechanical toilet, in which a biodegradable lining material transfers and contains excrement in a sealed container which the user empties into the biodigestor, sited at an outdoor location, in exchange for methane gas: free cooking fuel. The GCH4 project has been exhibited and acclaimed internationally and broadcast on U.K. talk radio.

A TOILET IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS INFRASTRUCTURE!

As of February 2009, an interdisciplinary team is developing a detailed business plan and market strategy for the GCH4. Through the Innovation Entrepreneurship & Design fellowship program at Imperial College London, we will be ready to enter the market in urban Nigeria in June 2009.

In the spirit of social entrepreneurship, we are adopting open-source models and building the system with a combination of onsite materials and cradle-to-cradle manufacturing techniques. We have reduced the toilet to a kit of parts and developed a unique system around the value network from waste collection to energy production. In the spring we are conducting a series of focus groups to attain feedback from urban Nigerians.

We are concurrently preparing to build the proof-of-principle techincal rig including a biodigestor here in London. We have found an excellent site and are in the process of securing funds.
You can help us realise this project.

Flash website www.excrextra.com
Contact us at info@excrextra.com

updated 04.09