upcycled plastics are turned into luxurious Portaloo with 3D printing
Social enterprise To.org has partnered with Dutch filaments designer Reflow to 3D print a one of a kid lavish portable plastics in the swiss Alps.
developed from Reflow-upcycled medical waste using an ABB 3D printer,
The portable lavatory is constructed to highlight the unsanitary facilities or lack of availability to those leaving in remote areas.
it generally features the door,
body and waste retrieval system expected in a toilet, the aptly named ‘Throne” has not just been built as a display piece but is open for all to relieve themselves at the site it was built.
” A public toilet is a publlic toilet” says toorg CEO and founderNachson Mimran .
” should our construction site enjoy this moment as much as I did,
they would most likely be in better spirits to enjoy the work they do.”
An upcycled Loo design inspiration
Created by a team of Social and Eco-justice warriors, the Foundation works to fund and improve grassroots initiatives that both help vulnerable people, and protect the earth from global warming.
to achieve this, the firm has more often than most invested in start-ups which includes plant-based meat substitute producer Beyond meat. as well as unique infrastructure projects in Africa.
As part of a collective, the organisation seeks to create the ‘Great Green Wall’ in Senegal’ by planting sixty-five thousand food-bearing trees throughout the impoverished region of the Sahel.
in2019, To.org constructed a ‘Bottle brick toilet’ from thirteen thousand upcycled bottles in Uganda.
this went on to act as the blueprint for more lavatories across the country,
and The inspiration for the Throne as well.
The enterprise’s current latrine is said to have been conceived,
when Mimran met designer Jimenez Garcia of Spanish studio nagami at an event in London,
this is where they came up with the idea of 3D printing an igloo-like creative space for locals to share ideas in, this would need its compact toilet.
While to.org’s clamshell Esque social spaces are still being built,
it is already able to build a large-format loo very close to the site they are set to be constructed on.
constructed with the use of a 7-axis robotic 3D printer in three days,
the Carsey is almost like a futuristic rocket in aesthetics.
Although the enterprise’s portaloo has arguably achieved its purpose in that it has been put into commission,
and attracted the attention of both locals and designers,
it isn’t stackable and therefore isn’t scalable. Additionally,
Mimran has reportedly admitted that the Throne would be difficult to duplicate in Africa,
but he still hopes his hillside toilet will raise 3D printing’s profile as a global sanitation solution.
3D printed accesible loos
Amazingly the throne is not the first of its kind to be constructed with accessibility in mind,
Additive manufacturing has always aimed at making clean sanitation accessible to all.
back in 2019, Singaporean architecture firm SPARK launched its ‘Big Arse Toilet,
a lightweight 3D printed module that can be delivered via drone on demand.
Also, construction firm Hamilton labs were able to deploy its robotic technology,
alongside the National additive Manufacturing Cluster of Singapore to 3D print toilets in India.
