Winner | Product Design | 2021
LAUFEN – save!
The urine-separating toilet Save! is a full-fledged toilet that can be used basically anywhere, with an invisibly installed “urine trap”. In this process, urine is directed towards a separate outlet by utilizing surface tension, the so-called teapot effect. Meanwhile, solids, toilet paper and the flush water go down the drain as usual. No technical aids are needed to separate the urine, but a sophisticated geometry of the ceramic bowl is required, which is admittedly not very eye-catching. Save! is the result of a collaboration between Laufen Bathrooms, the Austrian design studio EOOS and the Swiss water research institute Eawag. The novel toilet follows the idea of “Source Separation Technology” in which the toilet wastewater is already separated at the source. This allows the various types of wastewater to be processed sustainably and valuable resources to be recovered. Human urine contains raw materials such as phosphorus and nitrogen, from which fertilizers can be obtained. Today, these substances enter natural waters, where they contribute significantly to dangerous nutrient oversaturation.
Comments of the nominators
This toilet, which at first glance appears completely unspectacular, conceals an innovation that is as remarkable as it is hidden: by intelligently shaping the ceramic body, this achieves a separation of urine from other excreta without the need for any further technical aids. This is an invention that could play a key role in future wastewater management and whose potential impact can hardly be overestimated.
More projects from edition 2021