LooWatt is a toilet that can be flushed without the need for any water, safely disposing of human waste to be turned into electricity and fertiliser.
The closed-loop LooWatt system offers a safe and sustainable alternative to off-grid toilets such as chemical flushing loos at outdoor festivals, or pit latrines.
LooWatt is currently on display at the V&A museum in London as part of its latest exhibition Food: Bigger than the Plate, which looks at the future of food.
LooWatt's closed loop system turns waste into electricity, biogas and fertiliser
"We believe that to make a new solution for sanitation in the 21st century, you need to have the experience on a par with a flush toilet in terms of hygiene and no odour," LooWatt inventor and founder Virginia Gardiner told Dezeen. "You need to have a waterless system so that you don't need to waste water to get human waste out of sight and out of mind. And you need to have value generating systems."
The toilet removes waste hygienically without the use of water
Waste is captured and sealed in a biodegradable polymer film, which forms an airlock to safely contains disease and odour. This is collected and taken to a specialised anaerobic digester, which produces biogas, fertiliser and electricity, which can then be sold to generate revenue.
LooWatt partners with local waste disposal services to implement this final stage of the process.
The system is designed to run without water, which is is an increasingly p...