The streets of our country are littered with single-use plastic products. Hygiene takes another hit by the serious problem of public urination. ‘BasicShit’, a startup by Delhi’s Ashwani Aggarwal, founder and fine arts graduate from Delhi college of art and commerce is an innovative and affordable solution to both these problems.
Launched in 2014, the startup BasicShit began as a college project. Ashwani along with his team members Aditi, Ashu, Yuva, and Sahaj, got an idea to create a clean and safe environment for public sanitation by installing public urinals and toilets. It has now blossomed into an impressive and sustainable solution to a public health hazard, which uses plastic waste to make urinals, spitting bowls, toilets and so on.
One man’s trash turned into another man’s treasure
The brand constructs public urinals named PeePee. One PeePee toilet is constructed using nearly 9,000 plastic bottles. Another significant feature of these toilets is the special cartridges that treat the urine before it reaches the sewage system so that it does not add to the stench.
These toilets were first constructed using steel. However, Ashwani changed the material to recycled plastic which has no resale value. Single-use plastic is shredded and then pressed together to make sheets which are used to create all the products that BasicShit offers. One toilet retails for 15000-16000 rupees. The localized channel for deploying these urinals ensures efficiency as well as promotes social responsibility toward public property.
The toilets are two integrated urine carriages with a capacity of 200 litres each, which collects the urine. On average, each carriage collects 150 litres of urine per day from each installation, which is later stabilized and purified with activated carbon that helps in removing the toxic properties from the urine.
In reference to his startup, Ashwani shares his thoughts, “I particularly wanted to address the issue of public urination, which affected me and others around me greatly in our daily lives. We realized that if urinals were installed in common urinating spots on the streets, people would use them. I needed a low-cost, easy and portable solution, so I built it and request you to help us ingrain the importance of hygiene among society and generously contribute to bringing a change”.