The UK portable toilet hire industry is worth £540 million/yr, and serves millions of
customers every year, but relies on technology that dates from the 1970s. Portable chemical
toilets, which use biocides e.g. formaldehyde to suppress odour, incur great costs and carbon
emissions to transport thousands of tons of chemically-dosed sewage to treatment works.
Having successfully completed a Smart Proof of Concept and generated interest from the
Festival/Events Industry, Loowatt needs to develop prototypes for their innovative way of
serving the demand for off-grid portable toilets.
Loowatt toilets seal waste into biodegradable liner film material for safe and hygienic
transport to a local anaerobic digester, where the film and waste are converted into off-grid
energy.
This project’s key aim is to develop prototypes incl. proprietary biopolymer film, modular
toilet unit, semi-automated manufacturing rig, hydraulic lifting-and-tipping system and service
logistics model.
The prototypes will undergo performance testing and generate data to articulate fully the
system’s financial, environmental and social viability as an innovative solution for the
portable toilet hire industry.
The Loowatt Development of Prototype will create opportunities for new value systems in the
industry, with closed-loop waste treatment that generates energy. In addition, treatment of
dewatered sludge will create opportunities to reduce or eliminate the costs and carbon
emissions generated by transport and disposal of chemically-dosed sewage.
Project partners include Qube Renewables, who brings 30yrs experience in waste and energy;
Woo Woo Toilets, a producer and servicing provider of environmentally-friendly portable
toilets; Wessex Water, who offers valuable insights to options for onsite waste treatment; and
South Wales University, whose expertise in Anaerobic Digestion (AD) and biodegradable
polymers will be key to the effective development of Loowatt components.