MANILA — In India alone, the sanitation economy is estimated to be valued at $62 billion a year by 2021, according to the Toilet Board Coalition.
Swachh Bharat, the government campaign to eliminate open defecation, which translates to Clean India, has opened up business opportunities for private organizations seeking to enter into the market. But this also means the products have to be suited to the local context, Erin McCusker, CSO and director of global partnerships and strategy at SATO — a brand under Japanese company Lixil, which specializes in water and housing products — told Devex.
Research and the emergence of waste-to-value systems in recent years have turned the rhetoric on sanitation from being a problem to be solved to a business opportunity. More and more companies are adapting their toilets and approaches according to local contexts and user feedback, and turning waste collected into energy, compost, or even as animal feeds.