Smart School Kids Built Toilet Urinal From Water Bottle, And Won National Design Competition

In 2016, a bunch of boys from the Union Middle School in a village in the of Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu created an innovative urinal made using plastic water cans to promote a hygenic and sanitary way of urinating in the school premises while also winning a national design competition.

Youtube/Pums Akurumbapatty

Before the implementation of this urinal system, the washroom for boys in the school had just a wall for urinating. This was not only unhygienic as it was open, (resulting in disgusting urine smell completely taking over the area surrounding the toilet) but it also resulted in splashes of urine bouncing off the wall and straight on the uniform or feet. It was also resulting in the kids getting various urinary infections.

To get rid of this stench, five 13-year old boys -- Supikpandian, Santhosh, Dhiyanithi, Ragul, and Prabaharan -- thought of an innovative idea where they used 20-litre water cans and turn them into urinals. They call this, 'Safe Mode Pissing System'.

They took the help of their mentor Kesavan D, who helped them in cutting the cans longitudinally to allow it to prevent urine splashing back. Moreover, the outlet was connected using pipes and turned into a basic sewage system to get rid of the waste waste efficiently.

For flushing the urine, they used basic irrigation pipes which were connected to a central tap that allowed for fresh water to flush out the urine.

Youtube/Pums Akurumbapatty

This innovation not just helped in promoting sanitary way of urination but it also showed a great example of reusing plastic.

This innovation also helped them bag a Rs 50,000 cash prize in a national design competition 'Design for Change' as the 'Boldest Idea' award amongst 3,600 Stories of Change submissions.