Composting Latrines Madagascar

PSOC is an active member of the local WASH committee and participates in local sanitation fairs. They are known for generously providing information to other interested projects, both local and more distant and receive numerous visitors interested in the composting toilet technology.

Current status

PSOC has piloted a successful intervention to build innovative composting (eco-san) latrines. 67 latrines have been built, but funds have been inadequate to meet the demand, leaving some 40 sites on the current waiting list. Families not served by the composting latrine project rely on traditional facilities; these involve digging a shallow pit (~50 cm deep as beyond that one reaches the granite rock). These are used until they fill up (every 3-4 weeks), then the “toxic” contents are shallowly buried elsewhere on the site, with serious pollution run-off on the steep slopes of the mountain.

This project will work with locally trained builders to build approximately 24 additional dry composting toilets on the site. Each toilet is used by an average of 12-18 people. All latrines are built with local materials and are coherent with the architecture of the historic site (bricks, bamboo, tiles). The latrines consist of two alternating pits and are sized to ensure that the pits have a full year to compost before the contents are removed. The cabin over the composting pit is built so that it can be used as a shower (solid footplate), thereby meeting another concern of users who did not previously have shower facilities. Urine and shower water are diverted into a soak pit and do not enter the composting pit. Compost that is used from the pits is expected to be used on gardens and, especially, fruit trees on each property.

Each latrine has a locally made (pottery) water reservoir so that users are encouraged to wash hands after toilet use.

Construction of the latrines is expected to take place over a period of 7 months, so as to “fit” with other project activities, which include rehabilitation of tile roofs on vulnerable historic houses. Most of the latrine construction will take place during rainy months when roofing is not possible, thereby assuring adequate quality control and supervision of all activities.

Acceptance of these toilets is high in the community, as indicated by the waiting list.

This project will contribute to the turn-around of this historic site, which was previously so dilapidated, filthy, and stinking that no one wanted to live there. Latrine construction is vital not only to protecting the health of the residents and their neighbors, but also to restoring the cachet of the site and making it appealing both for middle class Malagasies to return and invest, but also as a site of interest for tourism.

The goal of this project is to provide a sustainable system of sewage disposable (composting eco-san latrines) to 300-400 users in Fianarantsoa’s historic Old City where it is impossible (because of underlying granite) to build pit latrines. Demand is already high for these latrines and there is a long waiting list.

Most toilets built under this program will be multi-family facilities in order to reduce the cost per user. They are not, however, community or public toilets and “ownership” is clear so as to promote proper maintenance and use. The hardware financed under this intervention is complemented by a “software” intervention each summer when we host a British volunteer program in July/August/September. These medical students run a camp program for children of the Old City around the themes of sanitation, hygiene and nutrition. The need for toilet use and handwashing are key themes covered in the camps which are attended by more than 300 children a year. The children, in turn, share their knowledge through skits and other activities designed to inform their families and the larger community. We also conduct annual workshops on these themes at the local elementary school and give individual training on use and maintenance to each family who benefits from a latrine.

We have trained a team of residents to change the footplates and remove the compost at the end of the cycle. These people formally had the unenviable task of removing toxic wastes from “hot” toilets under the old system. The composting toilet arrangement allows them to continue practicing their profession in dignity and under healthy conditions.

The technology used is a “sustainable” technology in which footplates and pits are interchanged as one pit becomes full. The contents are then allowed to compost for a minimum of a year. At the end of the year the compost is removed, the footplates again interchanged and the cycle continues.