Ecological sanitation in low income countries: assessment of social acceptance and scope of scaling up

Ecological sanitation (EcoSan) is one of the effective concepts of sustainable sanitation for both water-rich and water-poor areas. Urine diversion dehydration toilet (UDDT) is a toilet system under this concept which can be used to recover resources such as nutrients and can also be an alternative to improve the sanitary situation in low income countries. A reconnaissance survey, structured questionnaire survey, key informant interviews, participatory approaches such as focus group discussion (FGD) and mass gathering were carried out in Kenya to assess social acceptance and scope of scaling up of UDDTs. The results showed that almost all respondents among UDDT users and non-users have overcome social and cultural barriers to accept UDDTs. Users were spontaneously applying EcoSan products as fertilizers to their agricultural lands. It is recommended to develop a strong interlinked and a coordinated system with market creation among the stakeholders to replicate UDDTs.