Toilet: Ek Prem Katha for this architecture student

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 7

International Women’s Day is observed every year on March 8 to celebrate the remarkable achievements of women while also recognising the immense work that still needs to be done to ensure a sustainable future for all.

On this line, city-based young environmentalist-in-making and student, Ruhani Verma has come up with a community toilet, she calls Swacchaalya, made from 100% recycled plastic. Ruhani is a student of Jayshree Periwal school, Jaipur, and wants to pursue architecture. Her belief that women are often disproportionately affected by environmental degradation and climate change made her work on the project of developing a community toilet using single-use plastic, which is the most harmful ground pollutant in the world.

“A few months ago, I worked on a project whose heart was sustainability. I was able to collect 4 lakh single-use plastic bags and build a toilet using environment-friendly bricks. 30% of this brick is made from single-use plastic and 70% out of waste, silica dust. These are compressed together to mould them into a brick, which are further laid through interlocking, without the use of any adhesive or cementing material, due to their design, making it a carbon-negative structure,” she explained. She collaborated with Urban Chakra, a Delhi-based firm, that specialises in making Silica Plastic Blocks (SPBs) and came up with the idea of carbon-negative structure. The first toilet was built at the airport parking lot last December, which did not have any public toilet. Ruhani said since the structure made from these bricks uses no natural material like soil, silica or water and the strength of an SPB (Silica Plastic Block) brick is three times stronger as compared to the normal red clay brick, it’s a sustainable and cost-effective method to build structures.

“The waste production, especially single-use plastic littered across our countryside, is an issue of concern not only in India but globally too. This problem has only been increasing each year drastically. By making sustainable choices in our day-to-day lives, we can contribute to a more equitable and sustainable tomorrow for all,” said Ruhani.

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