Toilet of the future wanted. Reward — more than $300 million.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is on a mission to find a new model for the toilet that would reinvent the model for the 2.5 billion people around the world without access to modern sanitation, the Associated Press reported.
The competition to find the toilet of the future has attracted scientists and inventors from across the globe, with models like one using microwave energy to transform human waste into electricity and another that captures urine to use for flushing. Another converts excrement into charcoal that can then be burned for energy.
“We couldn’t be happier with the response that we’ve gotten,” Bill Gates said.
The toilet of the future must be able to operate without running water, electricity or a septic system, the competition stipulates. It must also not discharge pollutants and preferably be able to capture energy, all at a cost of less than 5 center per day.
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