‘Toilet of the future’ solves global issues

Last summer, Hoffmann, the James Irvine Professor of Environmental Science at Caltech, and his team were awarded a $400,000 grant to create a toilet that can safely dispose of human waste for just five cents per user per day. The lavatory can’t use a septic system or an outside water source, or produce pollutants.

The challenge is part of a $40 million program initiated by the Gates Foundation to tackle the problems of water, sanitation, and hygiene throughout the developing world. According to the World Health Organization, 2.5 billion people around the globe are without access to sanitary toilets, which results in the spread of deadly diseases. Every year, 1.5 million people—mostly those under the age of five—die from diarrhea.

Hoffmann’s proposal—which won one of the eight grants given—was to build a toilet that uses the sun to power an electrochemical reactor. The reactor breaks down water and human waste into fertilizer and hydrogen, which can be stored in hydrogen fuel cells as energy. The treated water can then be reused to flush the toilet or for irrigation.

DIY disaster stories are not always funny, apparently over 100,000 people per year visit hospital casualty departments after DIY injuries.
But sometimes, the work and inventivity of some Do It Yourself enthusiasts can produce some hilarious results.

Shower head from an empty plastic bottle and some improvised piping.

Don’t forget to put the toilet seat down ? And take the drain out. Washing your hands in the basin has priority.

Aiming short.

An epic battle between the toilet seat and the toilet paper. The toilet paper would eventually lose at some point.

Available urinals. Just like the buses, two come along the wall at the same time. Take your pick.

Work in progress. A traffic cone is not just for the roads.

Nothing to hide in this public toilet.

In use or not in use? The biggest sign possible if a toilet is Occupied or not.

Toilet time. Please, don’t squeeze too hard.

How far is too far ? If you travel in a straight line, between the WC and the toilet paper…

You always need the toilet while playing hide and seek

Is this chair taken ?

Finally, some privacy..! I just need to find a way to get in and out

From up there you can see the whole country and your subjects

When you flush the toilet, don’t waste water, cut the wasted water

A symbolic divider protecting your intimacy. Just pretend that you are not there and don’t make eye contact

Beer goes right through you because it has natural diuretic properties

You can only do something once when nature calls. But you have to wash your hands five times if you want the bathroom door to open

Urinals like this keep the security industry alive in pubs and clubs

Experiencing the British weather in the bathroom

This is not an urinal. This is an IQ test.

Who said that boys don’t go to the bathroom together?

This is how you take a shower before you apply for Britain has talent or X Factor

That could be a killer whale biting a white shark and not the action of somebody who really wants to take a shower. A very poor and weird attempt at showering or filling the bathtub up

I am not behind you

Sochi Olympics twin toilet