Virginia Gardiner (US)

Virginia has worked in design, engineering, management, entrepreneurship, fundraising and journalism. After studying literature and engineering at Stanford University, and covering design for publications including The New York Times and Metropolis, she began to value the social importance of products and systems we live with, and to recognize certain everyday realities, such as the flush toilet, as wasteful. She founded Loowatt Ltd. after developing the toilet and system concept during her masters’ degree in 2008. The Loowatt toilet uses a patented, simple and efficient sealing technology to contain human waste within biodegradable film, with a unique odor-inhibiting system. The waste is then stored in a cartridge for periodic emptying, which can be weekly or daily, depending upon level of usage and capacity requirements. Loowatt is also considering the energy usages of human waste throuhg anearobic digestion.