User:KCsanR/sandbox

What is CBS? Container or Cartridge Based Sanitation (CBS) is a form of sanitation service that uses sealable containers or cartridges to capture and transport human waste. The container can be easily sealed and removed from underneath a pedestal toilet or squat plate. CBS stands in contrast to traditional waterborne sewerage, which uses a piped network and water to isolate and transport waste. Likewise, it differs from on-site sanitation such as pit latrines, which must be emptied with a suction truck or by informal pit emptiers (also known as frogmen {link to Wikipedia page on frogmen}) who manually perform the task. Sealed containers or cartridges allow for end-to-end containment of feces during removal and transport, preventing releases into the environment. CBS is not just a toilet or a container inside a toilet but the entire service chain of capture, isolation and neutralization of fecal waste.

CBS systems are typically waterless, often using urine-diverting toilets to maintain separate waste streams. Water usage can therefore be limited to anal cleansing needs, handwashing, and cleaning of the toilet itself. Additionally, most CBS systems use some form of dry cover material applied after each use, which controls odors and pests as well as creating a visual barrier. Common cover materials include sawdust, ash, ground up organic material, and compost. In more advanced systems, biodegradable plastic film can be used to encase waste with each use.

The waste streams are deposited directly into the container or cartridge, which allows for quick and sanitary sealing for transport. Containers/Cartridges in a variety of systems have ranged in size from 5 liters to 208 liters. After sealing, the containers are transported to centralized facilities where the waste is removed and processed and the containers are disinfected. Waste processing can take on many different forms, from the simplest pathogen reductions to full resource recovery techniques. The most common method of resource recovery currently is thermophylic composting but examples also include conversion to biofuel pellets and anaerobic digestion for production of biogas.

CBS and entrepreneurial service provision models CBS is well suited to entrepreneurial models of service provision. Examples of toilet service provision include both pay-per-use and monthly subscription models. Likewise, there are currently single service providers and franchise model providers. One advantage of the subscription model is that it substantially reduces up-front costs to a user in comparison to the capital costs needed to construct a latrine or pour-flush toilets with on-site sanitation. Additionally, CBS systems are typically highly modular and portable, so they can be implemented in areas with temporary or unstable land tenancy such as illegal slums and refugee camps. In many cases CBS enables a user to transport their toilet with them to a new location if they have to move, enabling them to continue service, and potentially reducing their dependency on a landlord to provide quality sanitation service. CBS systems have been shown to reduce open defecation as well as increasing user satisfaction and willingness to pay for sanitation in a study in Haiti,.

Conditions under which CBS is most appropriate Dense urban informal settlements or slums are the locations most commonly employing CBS currently. These are areas where space is limited and construction of sewers is unlikely.

Contrasts with Bucket Toilets The CBS system can evoke images of related but distinctly different methods of human waste management. While manual scavenging and “bucket latrines” or “pail systems” were originally deployed as an improvement on pit latrines, they have provoked conflict and opposition based on a lack of social acceptance, willing laborers and public health grounds, ,. While a CBS system can include manual collection of containers, it is fundamentally different from these previous systems in that the containers or cartridges are sealed, thereby isolating human waste from human contact throughout the complete end-to-end service chain, of storage, transport and disposal. Another key element of both pay-per-use public toilets and household subscription services is that the customer or user is able to discontinue usage if they feel the service is failing to deliver a quality product. This is a key distinction between past colonial pail systems and CBS.

CBS is instead a modern evolution of Henry Moule’s “earth closet”{link} originally patented in the mid 1800’s. It is important to note that historically, the earth closet was considered by some sanitarians to be superior to bucket systems, cesspits, latrines and even water-borne sewerage.