KUALA LUMPUR: Going to the bathroom has never been more environmentally friendly as now, after a team of scientists at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have found a way to convert the poo into electricity and fertilizer. It's being called the “No-Mix Vacuum Toilet” and was developed with two separate liquid and solid waste chambers that reduces the amount of water for flushing by some 90 percent. The conventional toilet uses about four to six liters of water per flush. With the vacuum suction technology, only 0.2 liters of water is needed to flush liquids, and one liter of water to flush solids. NTU Assistant Professor Chang Wei-Chung from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering said the system has many benefits that will improve Singapore's environment push. “The new system will not only save water, but the most important thing is we can convert the natural human waste into something very useful, such as the fertilisers, the biogas, energy and electricity as well. So that is its biggest advantage,” he said. It is not just toilet waste that can be turned into useful material. Used water from the laundry and shower can also be released back into the drainage systems. Leftover food wastes can also be sent either to the bioreactors or turned into compost and mixed with soil. Scientists have been working on the system since 2010. “Singapore has been relatively clean over the last few decades, but we can still improve a little bit,” said Associate Professor Wang Jing-Yuan, director of NTU's Residues and Resource Reclamation Center. “In Singapore, we don't have natural resources, that's why we've been thinking, ‘can we use all these waste materials?' To me, all these waste materials, they are resources.” Assistant Professor Chang added: “We'll try to create a seamless experience, so that the user will probably not feel the differences. Except for the vacuum. The vacuum will create noise levels, which is very similar to the vacuum system you use in the airplanes. But we believe we are trying hard from the technology side to lower these barriers.” There are now plans to carry out a 6-month trial, starting in July. Talks are also underway to test the project in a new town in two years' time. Scientists hope to commercialize the system and export it to other countries in the future.
