The U.K. portable toilet hire industry is worth £540 million annually, and serves millions of
customers every year, but relies on technology that dates from the 1970s: Namely, the
portable chemical toilet, which uses biocides such as formaldehyde to suppress odour, and
then incurs great costs and carbon emissions to transport thousands of tons of chemically
dosed sewage to treatment works.
Loowatt Ltd., a U.K. startup company, proposes a Proof of Concept for an innovative way of
serving the demand for off-grid portable toilets: The Loowatt System, in which waterless
toilets seal waste into biodegradable liner film material for safe and hygienic transport to a
local anaerobic digester. The Proof of Concept will design and prototype critical solutions that
enable Loowatt System components to meet the needs of portable toilet hire companies,
including easy and rapid servicing.
The project’s key aim is to produce a resulting test unit consisting of a six-unit toilet trailer
block and 20’ containerized digester that can be transported to sites for onsite toilet provision,
waste treatment, and energy generation estimated at 30kWh per day. The units will undergo
performance testing and generate data to fully articulate the system’s financial, environmental
and social viability as an innovative solution for the portable toilet hire industry.
The Loowatt Proof of Concept will create opportunities for new value systems in the
industry, with closed-loop waste treatment that generates energy. In addition, onsite treatment
will create opportunities to reduce or eliminate the costs and carbon emissions generated by
transport and disposal.
Project partners include Aardvark EM, who brings particular expertise to the production of
containerized digesters, Prestige Toilet Hire, a producer and servicing provider of portable
toilets for events and festivals, and Thames Water, whose Innovation department offers
valuable insights to options for onsite waste treatment.