Voluntary Action’s IGNITE team, in partnership with Anglian Water, lifted the lid on the global sanitation crisis at their World Toilet Day (WTD) event on Saturday 19th November in People’s Park.
As it stands, 2.4 billion men, women and children, primarily in the developing world, will wake up this morning and be denied the simple luxury of using a toilet. Instead they will be met with the very real indignity of having to defecate in the open, and in the process, put themselves at risk of catching a disease which could kill them. World Toilet Day is celebrated on the 19th of November each year and is dedicated to working towards creating a world in which everyone, everywhere, has access to a toilet by 2030.
To highlight this issue, the IGNITE team held their own World Toilet Day event, in which Anglian Water took centre stage with their campaign, ‘Keep It Clear’ (KIC). KIC is designed to educate and inform people about the kind of things that should and shouldn’t be put down the drain or toilet – such as fats, oil, grease, wet wipes and sanitary waste – and the reasons why. The campaign aims to increase awareness of the wider issues surrounding improper waste disposal, and encourage people to look after their loos in light of the sanitation crisis.
Overseeing the event with the help of the IGNITE team was Youth Leadership Worker, Victoria Russell. Victoria had put together an array of exciting activities and toilet trivia for attendees to take part in, such as a mummification contest, quiz and photo booth. The toilet roll mummification contest proved to be one of the afternoon’s highlights, with young children bravely fighting against the elements in an attempt to be awarded the coveted title of ‘Best Mummy’. However, as the competition got underway, it wasn’t just the children who were left feeling a little flushed as small pieces of tissue paper were swept into the air for the unsuspecting IGNITE team to chase after and dispose of. Adamant that World Toilet Day 2016 was not one to be forgotten, we also had a photo booth where families could have their photograph taken with an assortment of toilet ‘accessories’ such as plungers and toilet seats.
However the event wasn’t all fun and games. The IGNITE team had an important message about the strain wet-wipes pose to our sewage systems when flushed down the toilet. To illustrate this point, on show were three clear plastic bottles each containing either tissue paper, a ‘flushable’ wet wipe, and a non-flushable wet wipe. All three bottles were filled with water and had a date on them to indicate when they had been filled. The point of this was to demonstrate how long it takes for wet wipes (labelled ‘flushable’ or otherwise) to break down compared to toilet paper, and how misleading it is for manufacturers to label moist toilet tissue as being ‘flushable’. The two bottles containing the flushable and non flushable wet wipes had been filled and sealed in May of this year, whereas the bottle containing ordinary tissue paper had been replaced more recently. The bottle containing the ordinary tissue paper had broken down completely and illustrated the point that tissue paper can be flushed down the toilet easily. The contents of the other two bottle however showed altogether no sign of decomposition. This is because wet wipes often contain plastic and therefore do not biodegrade easily or quickly. In fact, 80% of all blockages that Anglian Water are called out to deal with each year are caused by the improper disposal of wet-wipes and kitchen fats. The message here is simple, look after your loo and do not put anything apart from Pee, Poo or Paper down the toilet.
World Toilet Day also served as the launch-pad of the O2 funded project, ‘Explorabubble’. Explorabubble creator Project Leader, Helen Pickett, came up with the idea for a bubble event to allow people of all ages to come together and express themselves creatively. Explorabubble proved to be a tremendous success, with people venturing from one end of the park to the other, to find the source of the giant bubbles that were floating overhead. Giant bubbles aside, the event was also home to a variety of bubble based arts and crafts such as bubble printing and bubble blowing.
When asked about how she thought the launch of Explorabubble went, Helen said: “In spite of the cold, I think that everything went really well. Everybody seemed to really enjoy playing with the giant bubble wands, and it was really enjoyable to see the look on the children’s faces when they finally mastered how to use them. I wanted to create something that everybody could get involved in and enjoy, and who doesn’t love bubbles? I found the art and crafts side of things really enjoyable too. It was very interesting to learn about the simple techniques that you can use to create bubble art, and I like the idea that children (or adults) can create something that they can take home with them and then try to recreate themselves or with their families if they wish. I’m really looking forward to holding another Explorabubble event before the end of the year, and will definitely be buying some more giant bubble wands”.
If you took part in Explorabubble and have photographs of the event that you would like to share with us, tag @ExplorabubbleO2 on Instagram or send us a Tweet @Explorabubble.
Facebook: Facebook.com/IGNITE
For more information about upcoming Explorabubble events, keep your eyes peeled on the social media pages listed above or email Helen@vanel.org.uk