An innovative sustainable solution for toilets without water consumption. The University of Bologna Blue Team for the Terra Preta Sanitation System International Competition.

Sanitation is a social issue that still has to be fulfilled in some parts of the world. Current water-based sanitation systems, as implemented in earlier industrialized countries, are on one side insufficiently accessible by the emerging countries and on the other side environmentally inefficient. The present project aims at delivering a competitive and comprehensive solution by integrating an innovative sustainable toilets' design, excreta storage, transportation and transformation into fertile soil enabling a complete recovery of the nutrients. A logistic-based optimisation was implemented for minimisation of the impact on the environment, the economy and the society. The reduction in water and energy consumption will allow natural resources savings. The exploitation of excreta to fertilize the soil will avoid the waste of nutrients and carbon and generate a new business. The complex and costly infrastructure of the traditional sanitation systems will be reduced. The proposed system will improve health conditions and quality of life in emerging countries and contribute to find new urban solutions, increasing functionality and efficiency in the earlier industrialized ones. The project is carried on by the University of Bologna Blue Team (UB Team) founded by a group of students and members of the teaching staff. The UB Team is participating to the “Terra Preta Sanitation System International Competition” that has been proposed by the Technische Universitaet of Berlin.