The Solution Revolution

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The Wavemakers

The rising new players engaged in delivering societal solutions

The modern flush toilet was invented in the eighteenth century. The substantial amount of water and sewer infrastructure needed to operate one hasn’t changed much since. Consequently, about 2.5 billion people in the world rely on unsafe toilets or do their “business” out in the open. It’s a crappy situation that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation decided to clean up. In 2011, the foundation awarded eight universities grants of about $400,000 to catalyze the technology of waterless, hygienic, and affordable toilets for people in the developing world.

A year later, teams gathered at the foundation’s headquarters in Seattle for the heady, two-day Reinvent the Toilet ...