Flying toilets (after they have been thrown), Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya (3115704071)

A flying toilet is a facetious name for a plastic bag that is used as a simple collection device for

human faeces Human feces (or faeces in British English) is the solid or semisolid remains of food that could not be digested or absorbed in the small intestine of humans, but has been further broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. It also contains ba ...

when there is a lack of proper

toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human urine and feces, and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popu ...

s and people are forced to practise

open defecation Open defecation is the human practice of defecating outdoors ("in the open") rather than into a toilet. People may choose fields, bushes, forests, ditches, streets, canals, or other open spaces for defecation. They do so either because they d ...

. The filled and tied plastic bags are then discarded in ditches or on the roadside. Associated especially with

slums A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily in ...

, they are called flying toilets "because when you have filled them, you throw them as far away as you can".Whitaker, Mark. 30 June 2007
"Why Uganda hates the plastic bag."
BBC News. Retrieved 28 September 2007.

Usage

Flying toilets are particularly associated with slums surrounding

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, especially Kibera. According to a report from the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

launched in Cape Town on 9 November 2006, "two in three people n Kiberaidentify the flying toilet as the primary mode of excreta disposal available to them." This contradicts a Kenyan government report which indicates that 99% of Nairobi residents have access to a

sanitation Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation syste ...

service. The UNDP report blames a

taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

against bureaucrats and politicians discussing toilets, while others see a reluctance among the Nairobi authorities to formalise what they characterise as an "illegal settlement". A related concept in the United States is the "trucker bomb", described in a media report as the trucking industry practice of urinating into

plastic bottle A plastic bottle is a bottle constructed from high-density or low density plastic. Plastic bottles are typically used to store liquids such as water, soft drinks, motor oil, cooking oil, medicine, shampoo, milk, and ink. The size ranges from v ...

s and throwing them from the vehicle as an alternative to stopping the truck or using facilities at rest stops.

Problems

Piles of polyethene bags gather on roofs and attract flies. Some of them burst open upon impact and/or clog drainage systems. If they land on fractured water pipes, a drop in water pressure can cause the contents to be sucked into the water system. People can also be hit by the bags as they are blindly tossed. In the rainy season, drainage contaminated with excrement can enter residences; some children even swim in it. Such close contact leads to fears of diseases such as

diarrhoea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin wi ...

, skin disorders,

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

and

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. The practice of defecating outside, away from one's house, especially in the dark, causes concern for one's personal safety as well, especially among girls and women. In 2009,

Rift Valley Railways Rift Valley Railways (RVR) was a consortium established to manage the parastatal railways of Kenya and Uganda. The consortium won the bid for private management of the century-old Uganda Railway in 2005. The Kenya-Uganda railway had previously b ...

cited flying toilets thrown at the railway track in Kibera as the cause of a cargo train derailment in which two people were killed.

Approaches for alternatives

Community sanitation blocks

Several non-profit organisations have launched a "Stop Flying Toilets" campaign in Kenya, using a winged logo and sponsoring races with famous Kenyan marathon runners. The construction of three sanitation blocks (

public toilet A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

s) in

Kiambiu Kiambiu (sometimes spelled as ''Kiambio'') is a slum in Nairobi, Kenya with 40–50,000 residents. Kiambiu is 4 kilometers east of the center of Nairobi. Its name comes from the Swahili word ''"mbiu-mbiu"'', which translates as ''"to be on the ru ...

, a Nairobi slum with 40,000 to 50,000 residents, has reduced the use of flying toilets, and thereby reduced clogging in the drainage system and outbreaks of cholera and diarrhoea. The public toilets, constructed by the

non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

Maji na Ufanisi, based in Nairobi, require a fee to use, but have been quite popular.

Biodegradable plastic bags containing sanitising agent

A more advanced and safer mobile sanitation solution, which has a similar simplicity to flying toilets and also uses plastic bags, has been developed by the Swedish company Peepoople: their toilet bag is called the "Peepoo bag", and is a "personal, single-use, self-sanitizing, fully biodegradable toilet". This bag is being used in humanitarian responses, schools and urban slums in developing countries, such as Kenya.

Container-based sanitation

Container-based sanitation Container-based sanitation (abbreviated as CBS) refers to a sanitation system where toilets collect human excreta in sealable, removable containers (also called cartridges) that are transported to treatment facilities. This type of sanitation i ...

is another portable option for low-income settlements where sewerage systems are infeasible. Waste is collected in containers that can be sealed and transported for disposal. Thus users do not need to handle excreta themselves (which is a key criterion for "

improved sanitation Improved sanitation (related to but distinct from a "safely managed sanitation service") is a term used to categorize types of sanitation for monitoring purposes. It refers to the management of human feces at the household level. The term was coi ...

"). In one pilot study in

Cap-Haïtien Cap-Haïtien (; ht, Kap Ayisyen; "Haitian Cape"), typically spelled Cape Haitien in English and often locally referred to as or , is a commune of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the department of Nord. Previousl ...

, Haiti, container-based sanitation almost eliminated the use of flying toilets and

. However, there are typically costs associated with installation and transport of these containers, which may make them a barrier to take-up among low-income communities.

References

External links

UNDP report on sanitation
page 38-39 is a sidebar "The 'flying toilets' of Kibera—the severe neglect of water and sanitation coverage in poor areas of Nairobi"
"Flying Toilets"
Photo essay on the Flying Toilets and the AMREF Health Center on BBC {{Toilets Health in Kenya Toilets