Technology choices in scaling up sanitation can significantly affect greenhouse gas emissions and the fertiliser gap in India

What is it about?

Nearly 800 million people in India lack access to improved sanitation. This gap needs to be eliminated to improve public health, quality of life and human dignity. However, the choice of technology will also have important environmental implications. Results of this study suggest that depending on the choice of technology, closing the sanitation gap in India can either increase the annual greenhouse gas emissions of the whole country by around 7% compared to current levels (pit latrines) or be carbon positive and bring significant increase in nutrient availability for farming (biogas toilets with source separation).

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Why is it important?

This study highlights enormous value of circular sanitation models in tackling the challenge of open defecation.