The Sago Dry Toilet is a sanitation product designed by SAGO Collective — a Sydney-based architecture and design firm — for communities in Papua New Guinea that lack reliable water infrastructure. The system separates and dehydrates waste without plumbing, using heat and airflow to reduce solids to an inert, manageable material. The goal was a product that could be installed, used, and maintained at a community level in remote and challenging conditions.
My contribution was technical: resolving the product geometry for manufacture by a rotational moulder in PNG. This required travelling to the toolmaker in PNG to work directly on site — consulting, problem-solving, and coaching the local team through the specific demands of the design. The geometry presented real manufacturing challenges, and getting it right required hands-on collaboration rather than remote advice.
The project was subsequently presented as a case study at the ARMA Asia Pacific Rotational Moulding Conference in Brisbane — a recognition of both the technical problem-solving involved and the broader value of applying rotomoulding expertise to social impact outcomes. It remains one of the most personally meaningful projects I have been part of.