toilets : NPR

Floating Toilets That Clean Themselves Grow On A Lake

During the dry season, human waste makes the water putrid along the floating village of Prek Toal on Tonle Sap Lake. Courtesy of Taber Hand hide caption

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Courtesy of Taber Hand

Floating Toilets That Clean Themselves Grow On A Lake

December 23, 2014 • A new project places little kayaks filled with aquatic plants under latrines in floating homes on Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake. So how do the toilets clean the wastewater?

Oh, The Places You'll Go: Toilet Signs Try To Help (And Often Fail)

Toilets contain different messages around the world. Jeremy Vandel/Flickr hide caption

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Jeremy Vandel/Flickr

Oh, The Places You'll Go: Toilet Signs Try To Help (And Often Fail)

November 19, 2014 • Do I squat or sit? What can I flush? Is there even a way to flush? Signs from around the world aim to answer your vital toilet questions. Sometimes they're helpful. Sometimes they're just ... weird..

Me, Myself And The Loo: A Woman's Future Can Rest On A Toilet

"Parents enroll their kids here because of our child-friendly toilets," says Eunice, the co-founder of a Kenyan school with latrines designed specially for kids. Frederic Courbet/WSUP/Panos hide caption

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Frederic Courbet/WSUP/Panos

Goats and Soda

Me, Myself And The Loo: A Woman's Future Can Rest On A Toilet

November 19, 2014 • "My Toilet," a new photo exhibit in London, documents how commodes — or the lack of a proper one — affect the health, safety and education of girls and women around the world.

Toilets 'R' Him: Jack Sim Wants A Potty In Every Pad

Jack Sim, the founder of World Toilet Day, travels the world promoting access to safe and clean toilets. John Poole/Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

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John Poole/Ryan Kellman/NPR

Goats and Soda

Toilets 'R' Him: Jack Sim Wants A Potty In Every Pad

November 19, 2014 • The Singapore activist created World Toilet Day in 2001, got U.N. sponsorship last year and posed for us on a toilet outdoors on a freezing day. That's how committed he is to bringing toilets to all.

Volunteer Recap: A Summer With Her Mind On The Toilet

An Ethiopian woman and her child stand next to an Arborloo latrine. Courtesy of Dionna Fry hide caption

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Courtesy of Dionna Fry

Goats and Soda

Volunteer Recap: A Summer With Her Mind On The Toilet

July 26, 2014 • Dionna Fry spent last summer in Ethiopia, finding out how the locals liked a new kind of latrine that reduces the risk of disease — and can turn waste into fertilizer for a fruit tree.