SOIL Wins Lush Spring Prize for Regenerative Sanitation Solution
We’ve got big news. SOIL has won the 2018 Lush Spring Prize in recognition for the work we do in Haiti to build socially and environmentally regenerative solutions to the sanitation crisis.
In 2006, SOIL was founded on a spark of inspiration - the idea that there is incredible power in some of the earth's most simple and fundamental processes, such the cycling and recycling of nutrients and elements like carbon and nitrogen; power that can be tapped to heal planet and people simultaneously. In the twelve years since that spark, SOIL has evolved into an enduring ...
Juno7: All About SOIL’s Organic Compost
SOIL's lush, organic compost, Konpòs Lakay, works to mitigates the impacts of climate change, rebuilds soil health, and helps farmers increase their yields in Haiti. As we produce more and more compost, we've been excited to collaborate with Konsome Lokal, an organization working promote local Haitian products, to reach new markets and customers for the soil amendments. After attending one of their fair's featuring 100% local Haitian products last month, we sat down with Juno7 to talk all about our compost.
Excerpts from the Interview:
"SOIL works to create social ...
Racing Our Way to A Sustainable City-Wide Sanitation Service
Let’s call it the “fill your container challenge,” (which, let me assure you, is quite different from the ice bucket challenge. You would not want to dump these containers over your head). Over the past two months, 16 of SOIL's EkoLakay sales staff were competing as a part of two teams to see who could install the most toilets in Cap Haitien.
Many of the staff who took part in the challenge were relatively new to the team and we wanted a fun way to train them in marketing and sales, while incentivizing new toilet installations. So, we devised the container ...
New York Times: Can Dirt Save the Earth?
Photo: Vic Hinterlang
"To prevent carbon from causing misery and destruction, perhaps we just need to change its location. Perhaps we can find a way to pull it from the air and restore it to the earth," writes the New York Times in a new article that features the research of SOIL's longtime collaborator, Dr. Rebecca Ryals. The article documents recent groundbreaking studies into how improving the health of soil through compost amendments may be one of the most promising tools we may have at our disposal to combat climate change.
SOIL has worked with Dr. Ryals for ...
Juneau Empire: How Human Waste Can Be Transformed into Resources
Gavin McNicol, Junior Jules Francois and Denis Darline are photographed at SOIL Haiti’s composting site near Cap-Haïtien (Tucker Cahill Chambers)
Around two million people, mostly women and children, die each year from diarrhea caused by preventable waterborne diseases. The majority of people lacking access to improved sanitation necessary to prevent these deaths live in rapidly growing informal settlements in the developing world, like the neighborhoods SOIL serves in Haiti. But disparities exist everywhere, including in rural Alaska where 18% of people don't have ...
SOIL’s EkoLakay Service Mapped in New Water Atlas
Hot off the press is Guerilla Cartography’s Water Atlas, their latest project featuring volunteer submissions of maps on all things water, including one titled “Reducing Water Pollution with a Poop Solution” – a map on SOIL’s EkoLakay household sanitation service!
Monika Roy, SOIL’s former Project Coordinator, spearheaded this project back in 2015 when Guerilla Cartography started soliciting map submissions for the atlas. At the time, SOIL had just begun to incorporate more GPS data into our collection service to determine the best locations for storage ...
The Guardian: Life without Toilets
Photo: Andrea Bruce, NOOR Images
Last year, award winning professional photographer Andrea Bruce came to visit SOIL in Northern Haiti to document our work to expand access to lifesaving sanitation in urban communities. Since then, she has traveled the world to shed light on the global sanitation crisis and the resulting photo essay, which was commissioned by National Geographic, has gone on to win first prize in the Pictures of the Year award.
See the Photos
Don't miss the Guardian's piece on the series, including a shout-out to SOIL's transformative sanitation soluti...
Building a Depot to Streamline SOIL’s Operations in Northern Haiti
A photo of EkoLakay's current depot by Monica Wise
On any given morning, SOIL’s current depot in Cap Haitien is abuzz with EkoLakay collection vehicles coming in and out from the communities we serve, staff briefing one another on the activities of the coming day, and buckets of bonzodè (the carbon cover material used to “flush” EkoLakay composting toilets) being stacked along the walls in preparation to be delivered to families’ homes. This depot serves as a hub between SOIL’s primary office, staff in the field, and our composting site out of the city.
Ex...
Ozy: Why Cities are Starting to Shun Sewers
Photo: Vic Hinterlang
It's time to think outside the sewer, writes Alia Dharssi for Ozy in a new article on how sanitation practitioners like SOIL are leading the way for a global sanitation revolution.
"Globally, more than 1 billion people live in slums with inadequate or no toilets. That condition is spawning a health crisis, with research linking poor sanitation to the transmission of diseases like cholera, malnutrition and intestinal worms. Less than 10 percent of wastewater is treated in some countries such as Lebanon and Cambodia, according to a 2017 United ...
Building a Safe Workplace for all SOIL Staff
Since it was first published in 2015, SOIL's Human Resources Manual has served to guide, unite, protect, and inform SOIL’s staff. The manual, written in Haitian Kreyòl, contains 24 pages with topics ranging from vacation time to salaries, confidentiality, performance evaluation, conflict resolution, and so on. Even though each employee goes over the entirety of the manual with their supervisors, SOIL felt it was worth investing the time in providing even further clarification and training on one subject: workplace harassment.
After spending almost a year looking for ...
