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Item type:Publication, A qualitative study on resource barriers facing scaled container-based sanitation service chains(IWA Publishing, 2022-03-01)Container-based sanitation (CBS) is an increasingly recognised form of off-grid sanitation provision appropriate for impoverished urban environments. To ensure a safely managed and sustainable service, a managing organisation must implement a service chain that performs robustly and cost-effectively, even with an expanding customer base. These ‘CBS operators’ adopt varying approaches to achieve this objective. Following research including interviews with representatives from six current CBS operators, this paper presents a generalised diagrammatic model of a CBS service chain and discusses the three broad thematic challenges currently faced by these organisations. Supplying cover material is a universal problem with hidden challenges when taking advantage of freely available resources. There is no universally applicable approach for the efficient collection of faecal waste despite the high labour costs of waste collection. The best strategy depends on the CBS operator's overall expansion strategy and the location of fixed features within the served community. Although CBS is technically well-suited to being turned into new products within the circular economy, in practice, this requires a diverse range of skills from CBS operators and is hampered by slow growth in other organic waste recovery services and unhelpful regulation. - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Realities of using self-administered smartphone surveys to solve sustainability challenges(Palgrave Macmillan, 2025-12-01)To fill data gaps in human-environment systems, especially in difficult-to-access locations, novel tools are needed to collect (near) real-time data from diverse populations across the globe. Here we discuss the practicalities, constraints, and lessons learnt from six field studies using high spatial and temporal smartphone surveys in six different countries. We suggest that high spatiotemporal, self-administered smartphone surveys will produce novel insights into human behaviour, attitudes, and socio-economic characteristics that, when matched with high spatiotemporal resolution environmental data (e.g., from remote sensing), can be used to address sustainability challenges for global communities. Furthermore, we highlight the need for continuous refinement and improvement in future developments to enhance the efficacy of this methodology. By sharing the practical implications and constraints associated with smartphone surveys, this article contributes to the evolving landscape of data collection methods.2 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Beyond the grid: Navigating water supply and sanitation service ecosystems in informal settlements(Public Library of Science, 2026-03-01)Hundreds of millions of people living in urban informal settlements rely on irregular and unsafe water supply and sanitation services. To meet their needs, they must navigate fragmented service delivery environments and use multiple different water and sanitation facilities. Using high-frequency longitudinal survey data from three informal settlements in Kenya, Peru and South Africa, we document the variability in water supply and sanitation service access. Across the year-long study period, 62-73% of respondents across all contexts changed their primary toilet, with 10-27% reporting five or more different primary facilities, with similar variability in water access. High levels of disruption were reported, with issues related to crowding/queuing, breakdowns, and physical barriers disrupting accessibility all contributing to the churn of services. To explain the results, we develop the concept of a "service ecosystem" to describe how people living in urban informal settlements rely on multiple water supply and sanitation services simultaneously and how these patterns of access shift over time. Using James C Scott's theory of legibility, we argue that this irregularity means these service ecosystems are largely illegible within formal monitoring frameworks, that typically categorise households by a primary service. This leads to an information deficit for policymakers and practitioners who have a mandate to improve services in these environments. We further develop the implications of service ecosystems by calling for policymakers and service providers to recognise and support a diversity of service systems which have sufficient redundancy between them to meet the needs of populations, at least until broader structural reforms can address the underlying challenges in these settings.1 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Assessing the role of servicing in enhancing sanitation-related quality of life among container-based sanitation users(Springer Nature, 2025-10-01)Here we evaluate the servicing of container-based sanitation (CBS)-which includes the collection, replacement and cleaning of cartridges-and its influence on sanitation-related quality of life (using the SanQoL-5 index) in informal settlements across Kenya, Peru and South Africa. We (1) compared the incidence and severity of problems associated with CBS toilets against other sanitation types, (2) assessed the quality of CBS servicing across different regions and implementations and (3) evaluated the relationship between servicing issues and sanitation-related quality of life, utilizing high-frequency longitudinal smartphone survey data collected at various intervals over 1 year. Results revealed significantly fewer and less severe issues were recorded for CBS toilets than other toilet types, such as pit latrines, sewers and open drains. CBS servicing was consistently well regarded in all countries. Participants in Kenya highlighted particular satisfaction with the frequency of container replacement, whereas, in Peru, the cleanliness of replacement containers was highly regarded. SanQoL-5 scores decreased when CBS servicing issues were recorded, particularly in Kenya. This study underscores the potential of CBS as a sustainable sanitation solution in urban informal settlements, provided that high-quality servicing is maintained.2