Ahead of next week’s annual World Toilet Day (19 November) Saniflo has called for action to tackle the global sanitation crisis.
The company has flagged up the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, which promises sanitation for all by 2030.
Currently, more than four billion people live without safely managed sanitation – more than half the global population.
Meanwhile, at least 2 billion people use a contaminated drinking water source.
Inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 432,000 diarrhoeal deaths every year and is a major factor in diseases such as intestinal worms and trachoma, a statement added.
“Saniflo, as a leading name in the plumbing industry, takes its responsibility to take positive action very seriously and the company’s HQ in France works with charity, Une Villa en Urgence, roughly translated as ‘An emergency home’. The unique charity provides accommodation for France’s homeless – which counts many from countries with poor sanitation – made out of refrigerated trucks that are at the end of their working lives,” a company statement said.
The charity refurbishes the trucks into ‘villas’ that include bedrooms, bathrooms, windows and living spaces. Each unit is kitted out with heating and storage for both clean and waste water.
Saniflo donates a range of products for the bathrooms including the Sanicompact, a macerating WC that requires no cistern, Sanishower pumps and Kineprime shower cubicles that can be installed simply and easily into the units as they require no tiles, grout or silicone.
To date nine trucks have been renovated and each can sleep between six and 12 people. Over 100 more are in progress for other French towns.