Dear Miriam, You will ...
Published by Barry Jackson
Dear Miriam, You will receive much advice from enthusiasts and those with something to sell. Over my professional career I have needed to sift through many such glowing promotional presentations etc. I have a couple of thoughts on how to begin to sort them out. Bearing in mind that a sanitation system must be technically and environmentally sustainable, affordable and replicable without excessive external support.
On ecosan solutions I did a review some years ago entitled " A Review of Ecological Sanitation Technologies in East and Southern Africa, WSP-AF Field Note, ©January 2005" https://www.wsp.org/sites/wsp.org/files/publications/af_ecosan_esa.pdf
The key item for your immediate information is a set of criteria I used "to sort fact from fiction": "Four measures of acceptance are proposed: 1. Are the toilets still in use? 2. Are they being correctly used? 3. Are they being copied without external support? 4. Are EcoSan products being used in agriculture?"
On other "solutions" offered to solve South Africa's sanitation challenges I produced another set of criteria that included: a. total capital cost, b. running costs, c. moving parts? d. water dependent? f. how is sludge managed? g. institutional arrangements needed? h. familiar technology or understandable by target clients? and i. are they spontaneously copied by neighbours without subsidies?
I hope this helps your search for the best technology. Regards, Barry Jackson, ex DBSA, ex-WSP, ex Global Sanitation Fund.