Loop, There It Is! Rethinking the Sanitation Cycle with Loowatt & SOIL
Loowatt MG / Community members stand outside a loowatt latrine model in Antananarivo, Madagascar
Friends for many years, and allies in reimagining sanitation, SOIL and Loowatt have long orbited the same vision: creatively imagining what the world might look like if waste was not simply flushed away, but transformed into something valuable. In this conversation with Loowatt’s founder, Virginia Gardiner, we explore Loowatt’s work in Madagascar, their joyful defiance of the status quo, and the surprising power of pursuing big ideals not through duty alone, but through a shared motivation to use innovation and technology to engineer a more equitable world.
So, without further ado, let’s dive into a conversation with Virginia that will expand your understanding of sanitation, container-based toilets, nutrient recycling and more!
Let's talk sanitation...
I have a warm up question: How would you explain the term “sanitation” in the simplest terms to someone unfamiliar with the WASH sector? And what does this word mean to you?
That’s sort of a hard one, since sanitation is a broad term that has to do with how we protect ourselves from getting sick. Whether that’s talking about hygiene practices or clean water, it all falls under the sanitation umbrella. And sanitation is a biological idea in a way, especially when we talk about waste management. Humans produce waste but also need to be protected from it. At its core, sanitation is about how humans interact with their environment and manage their biological needs in order to live and exist safely on our planet.
For me and my work with Loowatt, “sanitation” means access to a clean toilet and full-circle waste management.
“Sanitation” has never been my favorite word, and I’ve always been more interested in talking about toilets than talking about sanitation. This is because sanitation is broad, and the word itself implies a very clean and pristine image of an environment. In practice, sanitation is much more complex than that. In addition to hygiene, sanitation is about organic and solid waste management. It’s about removing human-generated waste from human-inhabited environments.
Could you share a bit about Loowatt’s story? What inspired you to focus on the sanitation sector?
Well, my parents would say I’ve always been interested in toilets, but I’m not sure that’s exactly true.
I did, however, become especially interested in toilets during my first job out of college. I was working as an editor for an architecture and design magazine, and since I was the youngest on the team, I was the one sent to cover the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Orlando, Florida—a task that didn’t excite my more seasoned colleagues. My boss told me to check out the toilets—what was on the market, what new designs were emerging.
From a young age, I knew that using clean water to flush waste was wasteful. I grew up going on camping trips (aka I learned how to responsibly shit in the woods) and developed a deep appreciation for the outdoors. So, I was excited to see what solutions were being developed on a national level. But when I got to the convention, I was hugely disappointed.
There was nothing innovative happening with household toilet design—and everything labeled “new and improved” was just more of the same.
I actually have a memory of being in Orlando and crying at one point because I got lost in my rental car and was late to a meeting and was upset about the convention being a bust. I asked someone for directions to the convention center and they said “which convention center!” and I was like “what the hell!” How many convention centers could there be? I was angry, and the unchanging wasteful toilet became a symbol of something wrong in our society. The first article I ever wrote for that magazine ended up being a pretty caustic piece. I was frustrated. I pinned toilets as the “Dick Clark” of the American home—it never changes, and nobody wants it to.
I spent six years as a journalist before pivoting to pursue a master’s in engineering. For my thesis, I designed a waterless toilet—something I would actually want to use in my London apartment, and something that could turn waste into a commodity. That was my brief. I tested all kinds of toilets, trialling composting and vermicomposting prototypes in my own apartment, and lab-testing anaerobic digestion of human waste with biodegradable packaging. Eventually, I settled on a “flush” model, and the idea of true hygiene, while producing biogas from waste, made it an appealing urban solution.
That degree project became the foundation for the Loowatt toilet. We secured funding and, in the early years, operated out of the university, building anaerobic digesters. Around that time, a video about the Loowatt project—created by the magazine I had worked for—caught the attention of an investor in Madagascar. That connection led us to launch our prototype there. A grant from the Gates Foundation kept us going, supporting our research on toilets and waste to energy and fertiliser systems.
Testing in Madagascar meant developing a service model since all container-based toilets need regular servicing. Over time, we built municipal partnerships to support circular waste management, with household toilets becoming central to our work. As we grew, we saw firsthand the impact of a toilet—not just in terms of sanitation but in restoring dignity, health, and well-being.
What’s that saying? Sometimes, you get good ideas from being angry about things? I guess that Loowatt, in a way, was born out of frustration. The unchanging, wasteful toilet became a symbol of everything I felt was wrong with mindless consumption.
Hah! I think I even wrote in my thesis that America’s relationship with the toilet is both religious and rapacious. We call it things like the “royal throne,” and then at the same time, we waste a lot when we use it - and we do that with a sense of entitlement. That disconnect was something I wanted to change.
Can you provide some background on what sanitation looks like in Madagascar? Is there an established public or private sanitation sector and how does Loowatt work with them?
Loowatt MG’s utility partner in Madagascar is Société Municipale d'Assainissement (SMA), which oversees solid waste and latrine waste management in the capital city, Antananarivo (Tana). With a population of about 2 million, 4 out of 5 people are without adequate basic sanitation. From a sanitation perspective, much of Tana resembles informal settlements, with most residents relying on wet latrines due to the city's shallow water table. While the SMA is responsible for managing human waste, these challenges make it incredibly difficult for them to fulfill that role effectively.
Loowatt MG has a very important relationship with SMA. When we began building out the sanitation value chain, we received a grant to construct a containerized anaerobic digester for 1,000 toilets. This was built in 2014, but due to difficulties securing land, we weren’t able to commission it until 2016. By that time, the city had already built two other digesters—but they weren’t being used as intended.
NGOs in partnership with urban stakeholders had envisaged that latrine emptiers would pay gate fees to use the digesters, but since there’s no financial incentive in the latrine business in Tana, waste wasn’t being delivered. As a result, these digesters were running at only 10% capacity. This is where Loowatt’s partnership with the city became critical: the city had the waste treatment infrastructure, and Loowatt had a financially sustainable model to ensure waste was actually delivered for treatment.
Beyond the operational benefits, working in Madagascar has been incredibly rewarding culturally. People are warm and open, and we haven’t encountered significant barriers to building government partnerships.
Loowatt MG now has an incredibly talented Malagasy executive team who are leading the Madagascar company and driving the strategy and vision for growth. My role is on the sidelines, supporting strategic planning, and that makes me very happy.
On top of that, our collaboration with SMA has allowed Loowatt MG to focus on the service side of the sanitation value chain while the city owns waste treatment infrastructure. Loowatt MG plays a role in supporting the maintenance and performance of these facilities, and promoting waste-to-value by producing biogas and fertilizer at the site we built, which is now sited on SMA land, but beyond this site, we have access to several anaerobic digesters operated by SMA.
When did you first connect with SOIL and Sasha, and how has your partnership/friendship evolved over the years?
Let’s see. I’m sure we were aware of each other’s work (Sasha and I) before we became friends. The sector is small, and there aren’t that many people working in container-based sanitation. We likely crossed paths a few times at conferences like Stockholm World Water Week and fecal sludge management conferences. Then, with the formation of the Container-Based Sanitation Alliance (CBSA) and its formalized gatherings, we naturally started existing closer and closer within each other’s orbits.
In 2018/2019, we began exploring how mobile technology could support container-based sanitation services. Between that and CBSA, Sasha and I started spending more time with each other’s companies.
I mean, we just have an enormous amount in common. If you’re interested in converting human waste into value, chances are you’ll be close with others who share that interest—it’s a pretty niche field.
I still haven’t been to Haiti to visit SOIL, but we had a master’s student who worked with both Loowatt and SOIL, and they raved about SOIL’s composting facilities and production.
I’ve also been a big admirer of Sasha’s presentations at conferences around the world. I have tremendous respect for SOIL’s work, especially in a country as complex as Haiti, where they’ve managed to sustain a first-class fertiliser production facility, deliver excellent home services, and are leaders in developing results-based financing for expansion of high quality, non-sewered sanitation. They have also done academic work to develop a strong evidence base supporting the value of container-based sanitation. With passion and persuasion, they have successfully spread awareness about the links between sanitation at home and social justice.
Looking ahead, where would you like to see access to sanitation evolve in the next ten years? In the next generation?
I’d like to see many more successfully implemented solutions for high-quality, non-sewered sanitation—not just in emerging markets, but everywhere. Right now, only about 35% of the global population has access to sewers, which makes it clear that we need to rethink the toilet. Over the next ten years, I hope to see a much wider range of solutions at the household level.
Sanitation isn’t just about protecting the environment and public health—it’s also about dignity, self-worth, and the ability to thrive.
For people who have always had access to a safe, clean toilet, it can be hard to grasp just how emotionally detrimental it is to go without one. That emotional impact is a crucial part of the picture, and addressing it has the potential to transform lives across generations.
Here’s a fun one–what do you wish more people understood about the WASH sector and sanitation?
Two things:
- How rare and problematic flush toilets actually are. On a global scale, having a flush toilet is far from the norm, yet so many people take it for granted. I wish everyone learned in school exactly what happens to our waste and just how much work–and cost, and water–goes into running water-flush toilets.
- The real cost of sewers. Every water-flush toilet is connected to a sewer or septic system, and those systems need to be built and maintained—which costs money. All sanitation solutions require infrastructure to operate effectively, and the costs for OPEX and CAPEX for sewered and non-sewered systems should be considered on a like-for-like basis. For real progress to happen, this concept needs to be fully grasped not only in the sanitation sector, but by policymakers and the general public.
That's all for now folks! Indeed, we hope that these topics and this conversation spark a renewed curiosity about what happens after we flush—where our waste goes, who manages it, and how that process impacts the environment, and ultimately, ourselves. Container-based sanitation providers like Loowatt and SOIL are showing that our current view of waste is limited. With a shift in perspective, what we once saw as waste can become fuel for regeneration.
A heartfelt thank you to Virginia and Loowatt Madagascar for joining us in this insightful conversation and for sharing the story of your work. Your impact and vision for the future of sanitation are truly inspiring.