The lack of basic sanitation facilities is a major issue across regions in India, but it is especially distressing to face this problem while travelling. It is very common to come across toilets and bio-toilets in a dismal state, especially in stations or trains.

“You can only do so much to change people’s behaviour. Sometimes, technology needs to step in to fill the gaps. That prompted us to find sustainable solutions and improve the existing model of bio-toilets by creating our version of smart biotoilets,” says 18 year-old Yogesh Manikpuri, from Government Higher Secondary School, Bilaspur.

Along with Manish Yadav and Nikhil Prajapati, Yogesh, a student of Class 12, spent months creating the beta model of a Smart Bio Toilet, which has solutions for three of the major problems in the existing bio-toilets – choking, odour and a lack of flushing.

Their prototype of smart bio-toilets comes with several smart features, that enable the toilets to be clean and fresh-smelling at all times, without too much human intervention.

For instance, the toilet seats are closed with a metal plate, fitted with sensors. The sensor activates and opens the plate only when a person comes close to it to use it. Also, once the person has finished using it, the toilet automatically closes, flushes itself and cleans itself with an in-built soap dispenser.

To ensure that there is no choking, the team has installed special cutters inside the commode, that can cut and crush any foreign object thrown inside. All the waste is then collected into a biotank filled with bacteria that can break it all down with water. This water is then purified to be re-used in gardens, farming as well as for cleaning the toilets.

“Currently, we are at the beta stage, and the Indian Railway officials have shown immense interest in implementing these improved toilets after we address the remaining technical concerns. We are hoping to take this further and commercialize it.” Yogesh says.