I have been involved in a small project with Torben Lenau from the Technical University of Denmark about using bio-inspired design and exchange of ideas between an engineer and a biologist as a way of developing innovative ideas. In the study we focussed on developing concepts for designing dry toilets (which operate without the use of water – which is a limiting resource in many parts of the developing world) and came up with a number of bio-inspired designs (such as utilizing the terra preta principle, reducing smell and waste transport by looking at how some birds remove nestling fecal sacs, solving the fly problem with inspiration from pitcher plants and cleaning the toilets in a similar manner to how eyelids and thin liquid films are used to keep the vertebrate eye clean. The study has now been published as a short communication in the Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development.
Lenau, T. and Hesselberg, T. (2015). Dry sanitation concepts with inspiration from nature. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development 5, 330–335.
doi:10.2166/washdev.2015.178
Abstract:
Poor sanitation is a major problem for health and water resources in many developing countries. Inexpensive but also attractive toilets could be a way to fight these problems. However, radical new ideas are needed to identify innovative solutions. Such novel ideas might be found by using systematic design methods that search nature for animals and plants that solve similar problems. The paper describes how four conceptual sanitation solutions for dry toilets solving problems with smell, cleaning and flies can be made in collaboration between a design engineer and a biologist using biomimetic design methods. The solutions have the potential to offer significant improvements compared to conventional non-water-based sanitation.
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