The bio-digester technology deployed to produce eco-friendly toilets is fast catching on across the country. The ministry of rural development and the Defence Research and Development Organi-sation (DRDO) have signed an MoU to build one lakh biodigester toilets for 300 gram panchayats in the next two years. A similar MoU was signed to retrofit biodigester toilets in 50,000 coaches.
432 bio-digester toilets comprising two stainless steel chambers have already been fitted into nine long distance trains, pointed out Lokendra Singh, director of life sciences division at DRDO.
“Installing these toilets in new trains is easy but to retrofit them into two lakh old coaches is going to prove a major challenge,” said Mr Singh.
Lakshadweep has also placed an order for 12,000 bio-toilets for the 12,000 families living on the island. When put in place, it will become the first island to adopt a sewage disposal system based on biological treatment of human waste.
More significantly, bio-digesters, which are a spin-off technology developed by scientists from the DRDE Gwalior and the Defence Research Laboratory, Tezpur, to treat biological wastes of soldiers serving in high altitudes in Ladakh and Siachen, have also been licensed to over 50 companies who can build and market these toilets under the nomenclature of E-Loos.
Explaining how these loos work, Mr Singh explained that the bacteria used in biodigesters was first brought by DRDO scientists when they went on an Antarctica Mission in 1994. These bacteria were cultured in a DRDO lab.