X-runner – Affordable waterless toilets - GOOD – The search engine for a better world

Your Impact

Financing period: 6 March 2019 to 22 March 2019
8.3 Women’s Day / 22.3 World Water Day
With your help we will support X-runner as follows:

Financial

We donate the income generated during the funding period to the project.
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Media

Storytelling about the project and the topic is planned as part of our regular media work.

How X-runner pioneers create affordable sanitation services in a megacity

Almost 10 million people in Peru, or 30% of the total population, do not have access to adequate sanitation. Particularly in the south of the capital Lima, the situation is precarious due to increasing water scarcity and constant population growth. More than 850,000 people in the structurally weak areas of the city have no access to safe sanitary facilities and have to use simple latrines.

These latrines endanger the health, safety and general quality of life of families. The poorly constructed sanitary facilities are unhygienic and attract flies and rodents. This promotes the spread of diseases. Diseases caused by unclean water are still one of the country’s main problems.

There are more people worldwide with a smartphone than people with access to a toilet.

These facilities also pose a significant risk to the environment: Untreated wastewater and garbage pollute waterways, produce dangerous gases, contaminate soils, damage marine ecosystems and unnecessarily waste our most valuable resource – water.

Kreislaufsystem X-runners — How it works

X-runner’s project “Family’s”offers a reliable, affordable and ecological solution for urban households that do not have access to safe toilet facilities. The dry toilet concept separates liquids from solids and dries them with sawdust. This prevents the spread of bacteria and viruses and neutralises odours. The service forfamilies includes the dry toilet including a weekly pick-up service, compostable bags and an accompanying consultation with local contact persons. The collected waste is transported to a treatment plant and processed into high-quality compost. A family pays about 13 USD per month for this service. The waterless sewage system “Family’s” currently supplies more than 4500 people in more than 150 districts in the south of Lima.

Who’s behind this?

X-runner is a pioneer for water-free and safe sanitary facilities in cities. The social enterprise was founded by Isabel Medem and Jessica Altenburger. For her work, Isabel was named one of the 30 most influential social entrepreneurs by Forbes magazine.

Legally, the project is represented by x-runner Association (formerly B Corp certified x-runner Venture GmbH), founded by Jessica and Isabel in Switzerland in 2012. The sanitary business in Lima is marketed under the “Family’s” brand by the local non-profit subsidiary Sanisol Association.

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