Poor sanitation is a major problem for health and water resources in many developing countries. Inexpensive but also attractive toilets could be a way to fight these problems. However, radical new ideas are needed to identify innovative solutions. Such novel ideas might be found by using systematic design methods that search nature for animals and plants that solve similar problems. The paper describes how four conceptual sanitation solutions for dry toilets solving problems with smell, cleaning and flies can be made in collaboration between a design engineer and a biologist using biomimetic design methods. The solutions have the potential to offer significant improvements compared to conventional non-water-based sanitation.
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