While the business of kitchen and bath design can be complex and multifaceted, it remains a universal truth that consumers prefer to patronize companies that care about more than just the bottom line. Dealers, designers and manufacturers that are active in giving back tend to build stronger bonds with their community, and set an example for others.
For that reason, Kitchen & Bath Design News is pleased to introduce a new department, Charitable Endeavors, which spotlights companies’ efforts to give back to the community. This month’s Charitable Endeavors looks at a company that’s providing global sanitation solutions.
In the U.S. and Canada, discussions about toilets revolve around style and design, water conservation, Universal Design and overall aesthetics. Yet in many parts of the world, sanitation itself is the only issue that matters. In countries where fresh water is scarce and sewer infrastructure does not exist, unsafe, open pit latrines are the only toilets available, and these can allow disease to spread quickly, and often fatally. Indeed, globally, there are more than 2,000 deaths each day as a result of lack of access to safe toilet facilities.
Recognizing this, the Piscataway, NJ-based American Standard has partnered with WaterAid in a “Flush for Good” campaign designed to prevent the spread of disease and improve the standard of living through better sanitation.
The campaign centers around communities in Bangladesh, where “the partnership will play a crucial role in raising the standards of safe sanitation,” according to Jay Gould, American Standard Brands president and CEO. He noted, “We will be donating hundred of thousands of our SaTo sanitary toilet pans to residents and institutions in Bangladesh, one for every Champion toilet sold here in North America.” The company will also be donating a Sato sanitary toilet pan for every 100 likes or shares of its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/AmericanStandardPlumbing.
The SaTo, which uses mechanical and water seals that reduce the transmission of disease by closing off the pit latrines from the open air, was field tested in Bangladesh in early 2013, to positive results, and the sanitation solution initiative is now in full swing, the company reports.
“Access to water and toilet facilities is solvable, but we can’t do it alone,” said WaterAid America CEO David Winder. “That’s why WaterAid seeks to accelerate progress through innovative corporate partnerships in the fight against water poverty.”
As part of the educational mission, American Standard recently presented the Sato sanitary toilet pan at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington D.C. as part of a conference on global sanitation issues.