Bill Gates wants to build better toilets

Bill Gates, the co founder of Microsoft is determined to tackle the world's growing ‘poop' problem by helping to drive better toilet designs. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted a ‘Reinvent the Toilet Fair' on August 14th and 15th. Gates is concerned that poop is a growing worldwide problem.

According to his research, four out of every 10 people on the planet have no where to ‘go'. The foundation claim that 2.5 billion people have to handle their business in less than hygenic environments.

Poor sanitation will lead to food and water which is tainted with fecal matter. This causes 2.5 billion cases of diarrhea in children under five and 1.5 million child deaths a year.

Better sanitation could help prevent many child deaths and provide clean, safe drinking water and help to improve lives.

Bill Gates said before the event “Innovative solutions change people's lives for the better. If we apply creative thinking to everyday challenges, such as dealing with human waste, we can fix some of the world's toughest problems.” [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdwvuTrycYU']

The Gates foundation has committed giving $370 million to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WSH) initiative – including the development of a new 21st century toilet.

Yahoo added “What the Gates Foundation calls the toilet revolution could turn crap into stuff like fuel, fertilizer and fresh water. In October 2011, the challenge gave grants to researchers to come up with a better spin on the 18th-century porcelain toilet design. A year later, the fair is showing how far the teams have come.

Some of the ingenious ideas at the toilet fair include a Swiss system for diverting some urine and recovering water for flushing, and a design from Stanford researchers that turns human waste into charcoal. And a team from the Delft University of Technology in the the Netherlands invented a toilet that turns human waste into fuel through microwave technology.”

Kitguru says: A worthy cause, even if most of the press like to crack jokes about ‘poop'.

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