The reinvented toilet, an innovative human waste cleaning technology, is a novel invention that is solving sanitation problems across the world to improve public health and help the environment. It neutralizes waste at the source, killing pathogens and turning feces into harmless, odorless ash.
Instead of relying on the expensive infrastructure of pipes and gallons of water to move human waste for centralized treatment, the toilet, invented at and licensed through Georgia Tech, treats waste on-site within the toilet, transforming the toilet into a bathroom appliance. It doesn’t need a water supply or connection to a sewage system. It just needs a cup of water to get going.
At Georgia Tech, the Office of Technology Licensing managed the IP, marketed and made the technology available to industry, and negotiated the license agreements. The office worked closely with the inventors and ultimately signed with three separate global companies who will manufacture the toilet.
Prototypes of the toilet are currently being used in markets around the world, and now that testing is complete, manufacturers and sanitation providers have licensed the technology to companies who will deliver this innovation to the millions of people who need it.
This story was originally published in 2026.