19 February 2019: The World Bank has evaluated the success and viability of container-based sanitation (CBS) in places where regular toilets are not an option. The report titled, ‘Evaluating the Potential of Container-Based Sanitation,’ suggests that CBS be accepted as part of a suite of approaches to city-wide inclusive sanitation (CWIS), given the growth of informal settlements in many parts of the world and the need to provide sanitation services (SDG target 6.2) for all inhabitants.

The report surveyed examples of CBS, which involves the provision of sealable boxes for excreta collected by service providers and transported for safe treatment off-site, around the world, and focused in depth on examples from Ghana, Haiti, Kenya and Peru.

In a blog post about the report, the authors note that city governments are under increasing pressure to provide sanitation services, due to the growth in the size and density of urban populations, including those in informal settlements. Particular challenges include water-scarce or flood-prone areas, temporary settlements such as refugee camps, and slums where landlords are unwilling to invest in toilet facilities.

The study concludes that CBS could be suitable for hard-to-reach areas of cities, where other kinds of sanitation services may not be possible. It recommends that governments adopt conducive policy and regulatory environments to foster CBS, where appropriate, and explore ways to ensure that CBS services are sustainably financed. The authors suggest that doing so can help shift governments’ focus from building sanitation infrastructure to ensuring that sanitation services are delivered to all. [Publication: Evaluating the Potential of Container-Based Sanitation] [World Bank Blog Post]