Jack Sim says that forty percent of the wor l d doesn't have access to clean water and sanitary toilet conditions. 1.5 million children under five years old die every year because of unsanitary water conditions. Further, he says, more people own phones than toilets. These facts drove him to leave the construction business in 2001 and dedicate his time to developing new and better toilets. He likens human waste to fire - when managed properly it can make life easier, if not managed then eventually it can kill.
Sim's basic idea is that people need clean water and access to sanitation. He has several ideas about the framework needed to meet these specifications and found the World Toilet Organization in 2001 and holds a World Toilet Summit every year. Every culture approaches sanitation and construction differently and seeing the variation in toilets and water management is compelling to my design sense.
The WTO is involved in many projects with a social and educational focus but the activity that interests me the most is SaniShop. SaniShop gives local businesspeople the tools to build and sell toilets in their communities. The movement started in 2009 in Kampung Speu, Cambodia as a partnership with the University of North Carolina and Lien Aid .
Masons in the area take SaniShop production training and can built low cost, high quality toilets with local materials. The masons can also maintain and repair the toilets. Sim believes that this system is adaptable, repeatable and scalable to meet any community's needs. 11,211 household latrines have been built and 500 sales entrepreneurs have started businesses in Cambodia. As of July 2014 SaniShop India has built 889 household toilets through its 51 sales entrepreneurs, focusing on Odisha and Maharashtra. India's partners are eKutir and Hindustan Unilever Limited . SaniShop is also building toilets around Maputo City in Mozambique as part of a project that will run through 2017.
Jack Sim is a great inspirational speaker, even though he relies a little too much on using the word sh** . It's amazing to see what a social change movement ahead of a building and technology movement does for the acceptance of new sanitation. This TED Talk was given at TEDx Salford in 2015 but he's been previously featured in GE's Focus Forward film project and Global X .