Ten years ago, our foundation challenged the world
to reinvent the toilet.
To raise awareness of this challenge,
I've shared a stage with a jar of human feces.
“...a container of human feces.”
I've taken a giant wiff of pit latrine odor.
“Terrible.”
I drank water made from fecal sludge.
And I convinced some friends to drink it too.
“Thank you, buddy.”
All of these stunts got some laughs,
but my goal was to draw attention
to a serious problem: poor sanitation.
More than 500,000 people die every year
from sanitation-related diseases.
But this problem can be solved.
In the decade since the launch
of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge
the world has responded with the power of innovation.
Creative minds from across the globe
developed hundreds of new and exciting ideas
for how to design toilets
and process human waste
with little or no need
for water and electricity.
Toilets that convert human waste
into valuable resources,
including fertilizer, biochar and electricity.
And a new system to process
fecal sludge from pit latrines,
septic tanks and sewers
that turns human waste
from entire communities into electricity.
What's exciting is that over the last decade,
many of these promising concepts
have gotten more efficient and affordable.
Challenges remain to get these innovations to market
so that they can transform the lives
of the billions of people who need them.
But I'm optimistic about the progress
we can make in the next 10 years and beyond.
What inspires me most is the dedication and passion
of the people who've come together to answer this call.
Governments, researchers, businesses, philanthropies
and communities are working together
to embrace smart approaches to safe sanitation,
especially in slums and other underserved communities.
Together they are leading a sanitation revolution.
It can't happen fast enough.