A city paying residents who use an ecological toilet made world headlines on 7 July 2008. CNN (and several other media) reported about the town of Musiri in Tamil Nadu, where users can make up to US$ 0.14 (EUR 0.09) a month to relieve themselves in this specially constructed toilet. Since 15 January 2008 some 150 users are paid ten paise (EUR 0.0015) per visit to the Ecosan Community Compost Toilet (ECCT) in Saliyar Street in Musiri. The payment is made, on a monthly basis, to all card-holders who use the ECCT. Said to be the first ECCT in the country, it was officially opened by the Society for Community Organisation and Peoples Education (SCOPE) in April 2006.

The collected urine is being used as bio-fertilizer as part of a two-year research project conducted by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) under a MoU with SCOPE and Rs 400,000 [EUR 5,900] funding from the Dutch NGO WASTE. According to SCOPE, “the number of users of the toilet has gone up by 90 per day with the introduction of the scheme and daily about 200 persons are using the toilet”.

Source: CNN http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/07/india.toilets, 7 Jul 2008

Tags: ecological sanitation, financing, south asia