Elliott Skopin is a graduate of Wesleyan University where he attended school with MSG’s Executive Director, Max Perel-Slater. After working for several years after college, Elliott decided that he wanted to travel the world and made Shirati one of his stops. While in Shirati, he took on the Arborloo toilet project as a volunteer. Enjoy his blog about his experiences working with the MSG staff!
During my six-week stay in Shirati, Tanzania, I had the opportunity to volunteer with Maji Safi Group and take part in an exciting project: building the Arborloo Toilet. This low-cost, sustainable sanitation solution benefits both the community and the environment.
What is the Arborloo Toilet?
The Arborloo Toilet is an innovative, eco-friendly sanitation system that uses a shallow pit toilet design. It features a reusable concrete ring beam and slab, which cap a 1–2 meter deep pit used for human waste. The lightweight, portable latrine structure provides privacy and can be reused multiple times. Once a pit is full, it is covered with soil, and a fruit tree is planted directly over it—transforming human waste into nutrient-rich compost.
This design offers several major benefits:
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Affordable and Accessible: Made with low-cost, locally available materials like concrete and wire.
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Reusable: The concrete base and latrine structure can be moved and reused.
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Environmentally Friendly: Turns waste into compost, improving soil fertility and supporting food security.
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Durable: Built to last through multiple applications and harsh conditions.
Bringing the Arborloo Toilet to Shirati
When I arrived at Maji Safi Group’s office, I was welcomed into a team that had already laid the groundwork—literally. Several concrete slabs and ring beams were curing in the sun, part of the first batch of Arborloo Toilets being produced for distribution across the Shirati region.
Working alongside MSG’s health educators, staff, and community members, we refined the initial latrine designs. While the concrete base remained standardized for ease of replication, the superstructure offered room for creative and sustainable design. In fact, one wall of the MSG prototype was built using hundreds of plastic bottles collected from local streets—showcasing how this project can help reduce waste while promoting hygiene.
Maji Safi Group is committed to helping rural communities in Tanzania through our WASH in Health Care Facilities initiative.
Community Collaboration and Future Impact of the Arborloo Toilet
This pilot project was made possible thanks to a generous fundraising effort led by Casey Middle School students in Boulder, Colorado. Thanks to their support, nearly a dozen Arborloo Toilet kits have been constructed and are now being distributed to the homes of Maji Safi Group’s community health educators.
These initial installations will serve as case studies. Families will provide valuable feedback that will help refine the design and scale the project across Shirati. In the coming months and years, we expect to see healthy fruit trees growing in the exact spots where the toilets once stood—a visual reminder of how sanitation can support agriculture and well-being.
Final Thoughts on the Arborloo toilet
The Arborloo Toilet project is more than just a sanitation upgrade—it’s a powerful demonstration of how sustainable design, community engagement, and ecological awareness can come together to solve real problems. I’m deeply grateful to the Maji Safi Group for the chance to contribute to this important work and to experience the creativity, resilience, and generosity of Shirati firsthand.
You can get involved with Maji Safi Group yourself here! Anything you can do to help truly makes a difference to the lives of the rural communities we serve.
