Learn from Darechowk
By: Prajwol Shrestha
February 10, 2011
I recently visited Darechowk, Chitwan and I was amazed to see that a local organization there pays people to pee in its toilet. This may sound strange in urban centres like Kathmandu where it costs money to use the public toilet, but it is a fact. A local organization there really pays people for using the toilet. This innovative concept has really worked and motivated the farmers in the locality.
The farmers, too, are offering a rupee to the person urinating in their toilets, which are designed to collect human urine and stool separately, which would be later used as organic fertilizers in the fields. This has not only helped to keep the area clean but also gave respite to the farmers from using expensive chemical fertilizer.
This noble concept can be adopted by the concerned agency in cities as well, where the public toilets are in poor condition. People hesitate to use such toilets because of their filthy condition on the one hand and being expensive on the other. Instead many people use the walls, bushes or corners for the purpose seriously affecting urban sanitation. If public toilets in the cities can also be designed to collect stool and urine separately, the toilet waste can be sold as fertilizer and generate income for toilet management. This will certainly help to maintain cleanliness in the public toilets and attract people to use toilets, contributing to improved urban sanitation. Further, it would be an icing on the cake if the toilet management could pay people for using the toilet as in Darechowk.
This noble concept can be adopted by the concerned agency in cities as well, where the public toilets are in poor condition. People hesitate to use such toilets because of their filthy condition on the one hand and being expensive on the other. Instead many people use the walls, bushes or corners for the purpose seriously affecting urban sanitation. If public toilets in the cities can also be designed to collect stool and urine separately, the toilet waste can be sold as fertilizer and generate income for toilet management. This will certainly help to maintain cleanliness in the public toilets and attract people to use toilets, contributing to improved urban sanitation. Further, it would be an icing on the cake if the toilet management could pay people for using the toilet as in Darechowk.
Primary Source: The Rising Nepal, February 10, 2011
Secondary Source: NGO Forum for Uraban Water and Sanitation
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