: Hyderabad Man Turns Shipping Containers Into Solar Loocafes With Stink Sensors #IndiaNEWS #Changemakers The thought of crossing a public toilet while walking in India arouses feelings of nausea and

Hyderabad Man Turns Shipping Containers Into Solar Loocafes With Stink Sensors #IndiaNEWS #Changemakers
The thought of crossing a public toilet while walking in India arouses feelings of nausea and disgust. Closing your nostrils with your fingertips might still not be enough to avoid the horrifying and unbearable stink of ammonia.
And despite all your efforts to block out the smell, a passing whiff is enough to make you want to gag.
But imagine standing beside a public toilet while munching on your favourite delicacy, with the occasional fragrance of flowers spritzing through the air.
Hyderabadis don’t have to imagine this as over 200 loos, mushrooming in various parts of the city, have made the experience of using public toilets a pleasure. And it’s all for free.
The Loocafe conceived by a Hyderabad-based startup, Ixora FM, is transforming public toilets and promoting its use, one loo at a time.
Toilets get a makeover
Spanky Loocafe in Hyderabad.
Abhishek Nath, the founder of the startup, says that Loocafes are made from recycled shipping containers fitted with “hi-tech technologies???. “The technology ensures live tracking of hygiene, ensuring there is no stink with the help of sensors and informs the housekeeper if the water levels in the tank get low,??? he says.
The toilets, which are separate for men, women and specially-abled persons, are also monitored round the clock by a team of professionals from the control centre. Vertical green spaces with fragrant flowers and plants act as a natural curtain around the premise to prevent vandalisation.
With almost two decades of experience in managing hospitality for hotels and malls across India, Abhishek feels the most painful part is to deal with public toilets. He says, “There are public toilets but they are not very inviting because of their poor hygiene conditions. It is easy to build a toilet but difficult to maintain and create a sustainable ecosystem to churn costs invested in them. ???
To earn a revenue, a café next to the loo offering lip-smacking snacks and drinks is set up. The profits generated from the sales are used to maintain the operating costs of the loos, which are free for use to the public.
Promoting the use of loos
Toilets have greenery for natural fragrance and act as a green curtain for womens privacy.
“Absence of good public toilets during long road trips pushed me to think about bringing cleaner, friendlier and easy-to-use toilets. We want to break the notion of avoiding public loos,??? Abhishek says, describing his motive behind transforming public toilets.
Abhishek says that after the first toilet was set up, loos of varying sizes, from 208 feet to 45, are coming up across the city. He adds that about 200 to 1,500 people visit each toilet daily.