Associated Press: With poo on a pedestal, Bill Gates talks toilet technology
“Placing a jar of feces on a pedestal next to him, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates made a plea Tuesday for the safe disposal of human waste as he kicked off a ‘Reinvented Toilet’ Expo in China. … The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that Gates co-founded with his wife has spent more than $200 million since 2011 to stimulate research and development of safe sanitation technology…” (Schiefebein, 11/6).

Bloomberg: How Bill Gates Aims to Save $233 Billion by Reinventing the Toilet
“…[T]he Microsoft Corp. co-founder explained to a 400-strong crowd that new approaches for sterilizing human waste may help end almost 500,000 infant deaths and save $233 billion annually in costs linked to diarrhea, cholera, and other diseases caused by poor water, sanitation, and hygiene…” (Gale, 11/5).

Devex: At the Reinvented Toilet Expo, new commitments to bring innovation to sanitation
“…Development finance institutions including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the African Development Bank made the largest ever coordinated set of commitments exclusively for urban sanitation, announcing pledges that could unlock $2.5 billion in financing for sanitation projects in cities, according to a statement. The Agence Française de Développement committed to double its funding for sanitation globally by 2022, the United Nations Children’s Fund announced a new strategy to scale and deploy product and service innovations for sanitation and increase private sector engagement, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which hosted the event together with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, upped its own commitment to working with partners on solutions for sanitation…” (Cheney, 11/6).