Waste Treatment and Transformation

120731 ProfVic Mouch DumpToo often, sanitation development projects start and end with toilets. But without safe waste treatment, water supplies are contaminated with dangerous pathogens from human waste. This pollution is downright deadly: globally, diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in children under five, and in Haiti, a country of just over 9 million people, 10 children die every day from water-borne illnesses.

SOIL employs ecological sanitation (EcoSan) to safely treat and transform human waste into rich, fertile compost – a process that is affordable, sustainable, and ecologically-sound. Furthermore, it shifts the paradigm from a primarily destructive aim (i.e. killing pathogens that make people ill) to a productive one, whereby human wastes are transformed into a valuable resource for the environment.

To learn more about how EcoSan works, check out our Resources page.

Impact

  • 121012 Mouch DrumSince building the first waste treatment facility in Haiti in 2009, SOIL has gone on to become one of the largest waste treatment operations in the country.
  • SOIL’s two composting waste treatment facilities transform more than 50 metric tons of human waste into safe, organic, agricultural-grade compost each month, and the quantity continues to grow!
  • SOIL sells Konpòs Lakay compost that’s produced at these facilities to farmers, organizations, and businesses around Haiti to support agricultural and reforestation efforts, while subsidizing the cost of SOIL’s waste treatment operations.
  • SOIL’s composting sanitation system emits fewer greenhouse gases than traditional sanitation interventions, and applying SOIL’s compost further mitigates the impact of climate change by sequestering carbon in the soil.