On the sidelines of the recently concluded World Toilet Summit, Jin Montesano, chief public affairs officer, and Daigo Ishiyama, director of marketing and technology at LIXIL Group, the company hosting the summit, spoke to The Hindu about the company’s safe sanitation brand SATO, its suitability for India and further engagement with the Indian government. Excerpts:
Since we have been talking a lot about the open defecation tag for cities and villages, what are the parameters globally? In India, the parameters might be called limited, due to which, on paper a certain village or city may be said to be open defecation free (ODF), but on the ground it is not so.
DI:
For a State to be declared ODF, theoretically, once you build enough toilets to cover the number of households, that can be [called] ODF… In India, this is the definition. Once you hit that number, you can declare [it as] ODF. Now, in a more pragmatic sense, does that really reflect how people behave? Maybe not. But I applaud the government of India [for] at least [defining] that and [moving] towards that goal.
JM: The other thing you have to realise is that there was a time when you couldn’t talk about sanitation and toilets in India. So while we want to set strong targets for the Indian government, they have achieved something at such a scale that no other country has achieved. And Maharashtra achieving ODF sets a very important goal and creates friendly competition for other States as well. That said, ODF just means you are no longer going in the open. But it doesn’t mean what the UN will define safe sanitation. If you are using a hole in the ground in your premises and not going in the open, that is what we call an unimproved toilet. And an unimproved toilet doesn’t count in the UN goal of safe sanitation. Basic sanitation at the very minimal level requires a separation of human contact with faecal matter. And that’s why it’s very important for us to reach the first rung of the sanitation ladder. The SATO line of products gives this opportunity at a very high quality… it can help you say you are using basic sanitation.
Your product requires much less water as compared to traditional a Indian toilet. Could you tell us how you developed this?
DI: When you study the users and usage, water was one of the challenges that we had to satisfy with product design. The v-trap uses a lot of water, at least four to five litres of water. Whenever you fight nature, it requires force. Instead, don’t fight gravitational force. That’s how we came up with the flap-door concept…
JM: It also eliminates clogging.
From a design point of view, does it require water or sewer connection? In India, we can’t take these for granted.
JM: Every SATO product is an off-grid system. For families or households that have no access to a sewage system, septic tank, these are off-grid solutions. You just have to build it.
And how cost effective are they?
JM: We have price points of $2, $5 and $10.
DI: When we did the field study, we calculated the cost of building each toilet. The v-trap system eliminates the junction box, the bricks, labour. We are cost positive as compared to conventional systems and very competitive.
If this toilet requires repair, will a company person have to come down?
DI: SATO decided that we needed to professionalise an entire sector of service professionals. We have a women masons training programme in tie-up with an NGO in Madhya Pradesh. We are training women to become masons. The masons will install and maintain these toilets. So people part of the community will repair it and it will be an additional income for women. Everything is local — the manufacturer, sales representative — so masons are also local.
Since people are aspirational, they would want a western commode even in slums or chawls. Especially for senior citizens…
DI: We are starting to industrialise the stool model. It’s coming to market very soon. It will have all the same benefits.
What inspired LIXIL to come out with effective toilet solutions?
JM: Daigo invented it back in the shop. He was part of the American Standard Business team. He worked on a small grant on the very first model for Bangladesh, called SATO pan. When I joined the company, the mandate was to help the corporation since it had come together in a haphazard way. I had to help the company understand its purpose, beyond profit. The corporation was searching for a higher purpose. What unites all of us is the passion to help people realise their dream home. In India, a dream home can begin with safe toilet… The consumer can one day afford American Standard. But we must quickly bring them to the first rung of the ladder… We are currently in process of developing a toilet that can read your bio-markers, whether you need to see a doctor…
What’s next for LIXIL? Do you plan to engage with Indian authorities?
JM: Almost 50% of our resources are invested in India. The v-trap system was first launched in India. Now, our focus is to help States understand the product at the district level, village level. The Mashelkar committee had already recommended it. Our mission is to scale as quickly as we can. Daigo spends over half his time in India. If we are not successful in India, we can’t be successful. It is our proof of concept.
