World Toilet Day: changing the narrative 

Meet some start-ups in the sanitation space who are changing how people look at public toilets. From regular feedback mechanism to initiatives to check vandalism to empowering women as sanitation entrepreneurs, we feature three enterprise -- Recycle Bin, Loocafes and Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme

Vandalism and misuse are recurrent complaints about public toilets. Just two years in Chennai, this Thiruvananthapuram-based startup led by architects claims to have made some headway with its initiatives that seem make toilets a social space.

At Pumping Station in Chintadripet, where they have been working with the slum community for more than a year, they had to repair existing toilets, which would have lost many of its parts to vandalism.

“We installed a steel surface that functions like “reflecting mirrors”. This surface is everywhere including at the commode. How would someone vandalise something that reflects their image? That was the logic behind the exercise. Though odd this experiment sounds, it worked. We have not received any complaints about vandalism after this measure was taken,” says Ganga Dileep C., founder of Recycle Bin, the organisation that conducted the Toilet Fest in Chennai in 2022.

In another toilet at the same slum, instructions about toilet etiquette in graphics were displayed.

Its “lifeline project” initiated in slums focuses on holistic development of the community where it runs a slum parliament (a forum to air grievances to officials from different departments and have them addressed) and ‘Suyam’ (an initiative to create enterprises from the slums).

“Thanks to these initiatives, users have developed a sense of ownership and respect for public facilities,” says Ganga, adding that design is at the core of everything they do.

They are currently running another pilot, focussed on studying the potential of human urine to be used as bio-fertilizer. As part of this exercise, users of the toilet get a rupee after urination.