This may seem like an odd title, but it's actually a long-term collaborative effort between Samsung and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Today, the Korean technology company announced that it has completed a toilet improvement project in response to the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge.
Samsung's answer to the challenge is a prototype safe toilet designed for home use. Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) is the development arm of Samsung Electronics currently working on this project with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
SAIT started reinventing the toilet in 2019. Recently, they finished developing the core technologies and a prototype of the new toilet is also being tested.
This announcement comes after a meeting on August 16, Samsung Electronics Vice President Lee Jae-yong and Bill Gates, co-director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation discussed the results of this project. Discussions on initiatives to contribute to the community were also held.
So what is this revolutionary toilet? SAIT spent 3 years researching and developing the basic designs that led to the successful testing of the prototype.
Samsung has created core technologies related to heat treatment and biological treatment to destroy pathogens from human waste, while making waste water and solids released into the environment safe.
Through this system, the treated water will be completely recycled, the solid waste will be dried and burned into ash, and the liquid waste will undergo biological filtration.
Safe latrines remain a major challenge for developing countries as well as globally. WHO and UNICEF estimate that more than 3.7 billion people do not have access to safe toilets. Leads to half a million children under the age of 5 die every year from diarrheal diseases.
It is hoped that this collaborative effort between Samsung and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will address these difficult challenges.
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