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Green Tech and Gadgets

“Desert Cube” Greens Urinals by Eliminating Flushing

urinals in a row

urinals in a row
New technology breaks down minerals in urine to keep urinals dry and clean.

Eliminating the use of clean water for flushing toilets is important everywhere, but especially in the water-parched Middle East. Ever wonder why urine needs so much water to flush it down? It’s liquid, after all. But ammonia and residue is smelly and the minerals in the urine build up on the urinal or toilet bowl. That’s why an Australian company distributing in Israel has invented the DesertCube and a novel way to eliminate up to 95% of the water needed for flushing urine.

The Desert Cube uses microbial technology to break down the solid components in urine. You add one to each urinal, then turn off the water supply to the urinals. This saves the two liters needed for each flush. At the end of the day, you turn the water back on and simply flush the urinal a couple of times, for a total of four daily liters of water for each urinal. That’s a huge savings of water, even for a company with only a few (male) employees.

The Desert Cube protects pipes and prevents stains and mineral buildup. Since the urinal stays dry,  dangerous bacteria don’t have a chance to spread.

The company also makes a spray using the same technology, for cleaning the outside of the urinal. Desert Cube’s products have been approved by the public health department, the Society for the Protection of the Environment, and the Standards Institution of Israel.

Let’s hope that Desert Cube will inspire creative designs for women’s urinals, and develop products for use in residential bathrooms too.

More posts on green elimination:
How Green Is a Quick Pee in Public?
Are Cloth Diapers Green Even in the Water-Scarce Middle East?
Your Pee Could Power Ecobot III

Top photo credit: Mark Hillary

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Author: Hannah Katsman

Hannah learned environmentalism from her mother, a conservationist before it was in style. Once a burglar tried to enter their home in Cincinnati after noticing the darkened windows (covered with blankets for insulation) and the snow-covered car in the driveway. Mom always set the thermostat for 62 degrees Fahrenheit (17 Celsius) — 3 degrees lower than recommended by President Nixon — because “the thermostat is in the dining room, but the stove’s pilot light keeps the kitchen warmer.” Her mother would still have preferred today’s gas-saving pilotless stoves. Hannah studied English in college and education in graduate school, and arrived in Petach Tikva in 1990 with her husband and oldest child. Her mother died suddenly six weeks after Hannah arrived and six weeks before the first Gulf War, and Hannah stayed anyway. She has taught English but her passion is parental education and support, especially breastfeeding. She recently began a new blog about energy- and time-efficient meal preparation called CookingManager.Com. You can find her thoughts on parenting, breastfeeding, Israeli living and women in Judaism at A Mother in Israel. Hannah can be reached at hannahk (at) greenprophet (dot) com.

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By Hannah Katsman

Hannah learned environmentalism from her mother, a conservationist before it was in style. Once a burglar tried to enter their home in Cincinnati after noticing the darkened windows (covered with blankets for insulation) and the snow-covered car in the driveway. Mom always set the thermostat for 62 degrees Fahrenheit (17 Celsius) — 3 degrees lower than recommended by President Nixon — because “the thermostat is in the dining room, but the stove’s pilot light keeps the kitchen warmer.”

Her mother would still have preferred today’s gas-saving pilotless stoves.

Hannah studied English in college and education in graduate school, and arrived in Petach Tikva in 1990 with her husband and oldest child. Her mother died suddenly six weeks after Hannah arrived and six weeks before the first Gulf War, and Hannah stayed anyway. She has taught English but her passion is parental education and support, especially breastfeeding.

She recently began a new blog about energy- and time-efficient meal preparation called CookingManager.Com. You can find her thoughts on parenting, breastfeeding, Israeli living and women in Judaism at A Mother in Israel.

Hannah can be reached at hannahk (at) greenprophet (dot) com.