Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoHAITI / ECO-TOILETS
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: HAITI / ECO-TOILETS
TRT: 3.34
SOURCE: MINUSTAH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / CREOLE / NATS
DATELINE 13 MAY, 2009, CAP HAITIAN, HAITI
13 MAY, 2009, CAP HAITIAN, HAITI
1. Wide shot, garbage in an outdoor market
2. Med shot, woman sitting at a market
3. Zoom out, dirty canal running through a food market
4. Wide shot, market with dry toilet in the distance
5. Wide shot, man entering dry toilet
6. Med shot, façade of a dry toilet with logos
7. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Compere Delivrance, Active Women’s Association:
“We recognized the need for a public toilet because people were going to the bathroom in and around the market. So it was a serious need. Now, people don’t do that here anymore.”
8. Wide shot, exterior of dry toilet
9. Pan left, interior of dry toilet, pan to storage tank
10. Wide shot, American woman walking to weeds
11. Med shot, yellow bell peppers
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Brownell, Environmental Engineer, University of California at Berkley:
“We take the material from our toilet after it sits for a year. Then we mix it with household compost, the kitchen scraps from the garden, sawdust, sugarcane bagasse; any kind of agricultural materials, paper.”
13. Pan right, composting fecal matter
14. Med shot, thermometer
15. Med shot, stirring up compositing fecal matter
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Brownell, Environmental Engineer, University of California at Berkley:
“We are still deciding whether it’s better to use total drying or to compost it. We are trying different methods. We have some laboratory equipment to test which works better to kill any worm eggs.”
17. Med shot, sifting composted fertilizer
18. Close up, hand holding composted fertilizer-soil
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Brownell, Environmental Engineer, University of California at Berkley:
“We believe that if we are able to reclaim just half of the human manure waste that could be used as fertilizer in the Haitian fields, they would be able to produce 17 times more agricultural output.”
20. Med shot, man walking to an indoor dry toilet
21. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Josaphat Agustin, Technical Advisor, SOL:
“This is a dry toilet. When I lift the cover you can see how it works. When a person goes to the bathroom, the solid stuff goes in one place, the wet stuff in another. When they’re finished, they just scoop some earth, or sawdust or ashes into the bin. This makes it dry out faster.”
22. Pan right, demonstrating dry toilet
23. Tilt down, cartoon of correct way to use a dry toilet
24. Med shot, man talking to a woman in the market
25. Wide shot, man walking through market
26. Wide shot, man leaving market
27. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Magloire Baudeler, Director of SOL:
“Community management is important. It’s their project. If they don’t participate in running it, it won’t work. And you can see with the dry toilet in this market, they are taking care of it. The community is really participating.”
28. Pan left, dry toilet in a poor urban slum near river
29. Wide shot, pigs eating garbage
30. Zoom out, man shoveling garbage and soil
In Haiti, the local market is where most people buy their food. Yet many markets lack even the most basic sanitation. Garbage and human waste contaminate food and water, causing diarrheal disease - one of the country’s worst health problems.
But in the northern village of Petit Anse, a woman’s group is making an effort to clean up. With the help of a local environmental organization, they’ve invested in a simple technology called “a dry toilet”.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Compere Delivrance, Active Women’s Association:
“We recognized the need for a public toilet because people were going to the bathroom in and around the market. So it was a serious need. Now, people don’t do that here anymore.”
Public toilets are a straightforward solution to a serious problem, and can easily improve the health of an entire community. But that’s not all.
For environmental engineers in an organization called SOL, dry toilets are a way to make fertilizer, to help Haiti’s farmers grow more food.
SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Brownell, Environmental Engineer, University of California at Berkley:
“We take the material from our toilet after it sits for a year. Then we mix it with household compost, the kitchen scraps from the garden, sawdust, sugarcane bagasse; any kind of agricultural materials, paper.”
The process is scientifically safe, and works by bringing composting fecal matter to high temperatures, to kill off dangerous parasites.
SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Brownell, Environmental Engineer, University of California at Berkley:
“We are still deciding whether it’s better to use total drying or to compost it. We are trying different methods. We have some laboratory equipment to test which works better to kill any worm eggs.”
Six months of composting produces a rich, odorless fertilizer – which Haiti’s farmers desperately need. In the long run, the group hopes the dry toilets will help boost the country’s capacity to produce its own food.
SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Brownell, Environmental Engineer, University of California at Berkley:
“We believe that if we are able to reclaim just half of the human manure waste that could be used as fertilizer in the Haitian fields, they would be able to produce 17 times more agricultural output.”
These eco-friendly toilets are easy to use, and are suitable even for private homes.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Josaphat Agustin, technical advisor, SOL:
“This is a dry toilet. When I lift the cover you can see how it works. When a person goes to the bathroom, the solid stuff goes in one place, the wet stuff in another. When they’re finished, they just scoop some earth, or sawdust or ashes into the bin. This makes it dry out faster.”
The trick is to make sure that people use the toilet correctly – to keep the liquid separate from the solid.
The success of the project depends on good community management. SOL’s Director, Magloire Baudeler educates people in Petite Anse on the positive environmental impact of using dry toilets.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Magloire Baudeler, Director of SOL:
“Community management is important. It’s their project. If they don’t participate in running it, it won’t work. And you can see with the dry toilet in this market, they are taking care of it. The community is really participating.”
In the last two years, SOL has built 45 dry toilets in Haiti. This simple technology is giving farmers the fertilizer they desperately need. It’s also helping poor communities to remove dangerous waste from their neighborhood.
