Marketing human excreta : a study of possible ways to dispose of urine and faeces from slum settlements in Kampala, Uganda

A total of 794 million people in the urban areas of the world did not have access to improved sanitation in the year 2008. Keeping the rate of population growth in urban areas in mind, solutions for improving this situation with sustainable sanition options are more required than ever. However, when talking about sustainable sanitation the discussion often focuses on ways of financing its implementation, neglecting the costs of the existing, unimproved sanitation. Stated is that water supply and sanitation interventions for developing countries are cost-beneficial without exception, meaning that even if sanitation improvements do require major investments, economical benefits through time savings by improved access to facilities, higher productivity of labour or savings on health expenses can be realised. Trying to approach the above mentioned issue, the objective of this study is to develop economically sustainable logistics systems for separated human excreta which are generated in Urine-Diversion-Dehydration-Toilets (UDDTs) or similar devices, in slum areas of the capital of Uganda, Kampala. In order to finance the logistics, the generated human excreta should be marketed as fertiliser and used in agricultural areas around the city. Various interviews have been conducted with stakeholders, data was collected and literature was reviewed in order to design the logistics systems. After drafting them, cost calculations were carried out in order to test their economical feasibility. [authors abstract]