Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/808116
W EEKLY EDITION APRIL 5, 2017 PAGE 5 CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 Thinking Outside the Little Boxes By PSAI Ex ecutive Director Karleen Kos, as printed in PRO Magazine's April 2017 issue Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes all the same. There's a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one, And they're all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same . - Malvina Reynolds, as sung by Pete Seeger When that song was popular in the 1960s it didn't refer to portable restrooms. But anyone who has ever been to a large scale - event knows the image those words evoke is similar to seeing hundre ds of units filling the streets. Besides optics, though, portable restrooms share scorn with the "little boxes" in those lyrics. A lot of people are just not terribly fond of them. That disdain may change over the next ten years. In 2016 the PSAI decided to become involved in the development of a standard for "next generation" toilets. Working with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the International Standards Organization (ISO), and representatives from nations around the world, we are he lping to write a document that will guide everyone from sanitation officials to entrepreneurs as new toilet technologies are developed for the market. Be assured these new toilets are coming – and they are impressive. With help from the Bill and Mel inda Gates Foundation, innovators from private industry and academia have taken the "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge." Their goal is to create a toilet that • does not require access to power or an on site water supply, • provides a user experience similar to that of a sewer - connected unit, • can be operated for 5 cents (US) a day per user, and • offers a sustainable business model for entrepreneurs. The Gates Foundation sees toilets meeting these specifications as necessary for addressing the global challenges that occur when 2.6 billion people lack sanitation.