The cornerstone of unity

103 DRY TOILETS
A toilet is almost as important as shelter, food and drinking water, but although it is a basic need, it is 
unfortunately not a human right. Almost a million people in Finland live outside the municipal water supply and 
sanitation system. They are dry-toilet users. 
In a vast, sparsely populated country it is not viable to lay pipelines everywhere, and dry toilets are anyway 
becoming more popular for environmental reasons. In Finland, people talk about toilets and the treatment of 
excrement as just another part of everyday life. Finland exports high-level education and expertise on water 
supply, sewerage and other related issues, and our knowledge of dry sanitation would be a fine complement on 
this, but it is not always taken into account. 
On a global level the treatment of excrement 
– a basic need – remains a problem which lacks a sustainable 
solution. Only 5% of the world’s population lives in an area with sanitation, and only around 50% of sewer 
systems lead to an appropriate water treatment station. One third of the world’s population has never used a 

---

toilet. 
The treatment of diarrhoea and other fecal-based infections ties up as much as half of the health care 
sector’s scarce resources in developing countries. Using dirty water weakens people and kills children, the 
elderly and HIV-positive people. It is a serial killer which claims 5,000
–6,000 children per day. 
The Global Dry Toilet Cl
ub of Finland promotes the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals where the target of 
the goal is to ensure access to water and sanitation for all in 2030. The amount of people with no access to 
adequate sanitation could be reduced by half using economical and relatively simple methods. A properly 
implemented dry sanitation system prevents excrement-based pathogens from spreading. The waste is recycled 
as fertiliser, alleviating the hunger problem as phosphorus, a limited resource indispensable for growth, is 
returned to the nutrient cycle. Economically, socially and ecologically sustainable development reduces disease, 
hunger and poverty, and a common prerequisite for all of these is securing access to and protecting clean water. 
Sanitation is also a question of equality everyone should have safe access to a proper toilet, and no group of 
people should be forced to process other people’s toilet waste while having no access to proper toilets 
themselves. 
In 2015, the Global Dry Toilet Club of Finland organised the Fifth International Dry Toilet Conference, during 
which specialists from five continents met, updated, exchanged, analysed and shared information and 
experiences on sanitation and increased their expert knowledge. The content of the conference are published as 
a book of abstracts and a Proceedings cd-rom. The conference was organised in concert with universities, since 
there is a shortage of education and appropriate course material in the field.
Information on the field must be compiled, research developed, and practical solutions, installations and 
logistical processes tested. An exhibition is always organised as part of the DT Conferences which allows 
manufacturers to access the accumulating information. 
Asta Rajala 
– Former President, Global dry toilet club of Finland