比爾·蓋茨：我在中國與一罐屎同台亮相

你通常不會走上台站到一罐子屎的旁邊……

昨天，在北京舉行的新世代廁所博覽會上，我用一罐糞便作為自己的演講道具，這在人群中引起了一陣竊笑。但我此舉是為了吸引人們關注一個每年導致50多萬人死亡的嚴重問題：惡劣的衛生條件。

全世界一半以上人口使用著不安全的衛生設施。他們糞便里的病原體進入當地的水源，使人們生病。創新曾是中國經濟轉型背後的關鍵推動力，我樂觀地相信，它在改善衛生條件上也能發揮相同的作用。正如我在昨天的文章中寫到的，新一代無下水道廁所有能力徹底改變數百萬人的生活。

在昨天的演講中，我談到這些廁所具有的潛力和前景。以下是我的發言稿全文：

早上好！謝謝田女士的介紹。我要感謝陳洲先生，感謝中國國際貿易促進委員會和中國國際商會與我們共同舉辦本次活動。

很高興再次來到中國。大家共聚在新世代廁所博覽會，堪稱恰逢其時。幾十年來，中國在提高數億人民的健康和衛生水平方面，取得了巨大成就。開展廁所革命，體現了中國加快安全衛生建設的決心。中國正面臨推廣創新的分散式衛生產品、惠及全球億萬民眾的契機。

雖然在座各位背景各異，來自企業、開發銀行、學界、慈善等各個領域，但我們都為了一個共同的原因相聚在這裡——全球還有一半以上的人用不上安全的廁所，因而無法過上健康而富有成效的生活。

如果你來自於政府，你一定希望找到如何更好地處理人類糞便這個日益嚴峻的大問題，尤其是在城市裡。

如果你來自於企業，想必你已經意識到，隨著技術的不斷進步，如何滿足45億人安全用廁蘊含著巨大的商機。這麼大的商機並不常有。

你可能在想，這個燒杯里裝的是什麼？沒錯，是人的糞便。但這麼點兒糞便就能攜帶兩百萬億個輪狀病毒、兩百億個賀氏菌和十萬個寄生蟲卵。

在沒有安全衛生設施的地方，環境中的病毒病菌則要多得多。正是這樣或那樣的病原體引發了腹瀉、霍亂、傷寒等疾病，每年導致近五十萬名五歲以下兒童死亡。

不安全的衛生條件讓本來承受能力就弱的國家背上了更加沉重的經濟負擔。根據估算，全球每年由於醫療成本增加、生產力降低和收入減少造成的經濟損失高達2230億美元。

如果我們不就此採取行動，問題會更加嚴重。在未來幾十年，人口增加、城鎮化和水資源短缺等諸多因素，會導致非洲和亞洲那些衛生系統本已不堪重負的城市承受更大壓力，由於衛生條件惡劣造成的貧病交加的惡性循環也將越來越難被打破。

十年前，我決定停止在微軟的全職工作，開始和梅琳達更加頻繁地訪問貧困國家，我從那時開始關注衛生問題。

在我們到訪的一些地方，孩子們在糞污遍地的路上玩耍，糞坑需要手工清掏，公共廁所臭到沒人願意使用，當地家庭飲用的水也受到糞便污染。

這等貧困，我們見所未見，也鞭策著我們為此做些什麼。一方面，人們不應該為了如廁這樣基本又自然的需求每天忍受痛苦；另一方面，如果不能保障人人安全如廁，那麼梅琳達和我所追求的挽救生命和改善生活的目標就無法實現。

我們同時也意識到，想要在全球範圍消除貧困這個頑疾，我們要用全新的方式來審視並最終解決全球衛生危機。

2009年，我向一些科學家和工程師提出了這樣一個問題：如何才能超越長期公認的廁所「黃金標準」，即水沖廁所、排水管道和污水處理廠這一套體系？

我們能否採用更加經濟的方法消滅病原體，滿足城市快速發展的需求，又無需連接下水道，還能節省已經短缺的水資源和電力？

有些人懷疑這行不通。我可以理解。如果某些方法已經根深蒂固，的確很難想像把它推倒重來，因為大家都有一種慣性本能。

在我創業之初，大家覺得計算機只能是大公司和政府才能買得起的大型機，這是大家對計算機的認知慣性。但當時我們有一部分人並不這樣認為。我們夢想著開發人人都能使用的個人電腦。很多人說我們瘋了，但我們對此堅信不移，並找到更多志同道合之士。現在大家已經無法想像大型機時代的世界是什麼樣子。

我相信在廁所領域也能實現同樣的轉變。正因如此，我們在過去七年投入了兩億多美元，與合作夥伴共同開發新一代無下水道連接的廁所技術。

我們必須要攻克兩大挑戰。首先是讓整個衛生服務鏈條上的糞便管理變得更容易，成本更低。

數據能顯示出這一問題的規模之大。在全球發展中國家，有62%的糞便沒有得到安全管理。在有些城市裡，情況要糟糕得多。以南非的一座城市為例，有97%的人類糞便未經處理。還有很多國家，這一比例甚至無法統計。

有些未經處理的糞便在沒有下水道連接的糞坑裡長期存放，對居住地周圍的地下水造成污染。有些被人工或抽糞車運走，還是被傾倒進附近的田地或水體中。還有一些雖然被收集到下水道系統中，卻沒有得到安全處理。聯合國在2015年制定了可持續發展目標，希望人人都能用上安全管理的廁所，可我們還差得很遠。

為了解決這一問題，我們和合作夥伴一起開發了一個小型處理廠，能夠處理從坑廁、化糞池和下水管道中收集的糞便和有機污泥。我們把它叫做萬能處理器，它不僅能產生足夠的電力支持自身運轉，還可以放置到任何一個地方。它不僅能將人類糞便中的有害病原體殺死，還能將剩下的物質轉化成有經濟價值的產品，包括清潔的水、電力和肥料。

第二個挑戰是發明一種自成一體的新型廁所——能夠殺死病原體，而且具有內置的微型處理設備。我們稱之為「新世代廁所」。這種廁所綜合採用了多種創新技術，實現人類糞便降解滅菌，產出清潔的水和固態物質。這些固態物質可用作肥料，或無須再做處理就可以在戶外安全排放。

對新世代廁所有需求的首先是學校、公寓樓和社區公共廁所等。

隨著這種支撐多戶使用的新世代廁所日益普及，成本不斷下降，還會產生適合單戶家庭使用的新世代廁所。除了資源有限的發展中國家，發達國家也有民眾想要或者需要這種離網式的家用廁所。

我給大家展示一個適合家用的新世代廁所，它由瑞典工程技術公司赫博翎（Helbling）集團設計。

此外，我們的合作夥伴們還開發了能控制臭味、分離尿液和固體、保護經期健康、處理液態物質等方面的突破性技術。

不得不說，十年前，我無法想像自己會如此了解糞便。也絕對沒有想到，我已經對在餐桌前暢談廁所和糞污習以為常，以至於需要梅琳達來打斷我。

短短七年中取得的成就讓我倍感興奮。本次博覽會首次展示了經過試點測試的全新廁所，它能夠有效地收集、管理和處理人類糞便。各位在這裡看到的技術是近二百年來廁所領域最大的進步。

多虧了來自各地的大量工程師、科學家、企業和大學院校的全球協作，才讓重新發明衛生系統成為可能。

而且，我們在保證安全如廁的同時，還創造了數十億美元的新商機。

蓋茨基金會從中發揮的作用是投資早期研發，為企業開闢道路，幫助其進行技術和產品的商業化，這反過來也在幫助實現我們的目標，可以說是實實在在的互利雙贏。

我們預計到2030年，僅僅是第一代的新世代廁所，每年就能在全球範圍創造出60億美元的商機。如果再算上萬能處理器及相關產品和服務，分散式廁所的市場潛力會更大。

正如所有的顛覆性技術一樣，下一步要做的就是攜手在座各位，合作推廣技術。

今天，我很高興地告訴大家，已經有越來越多的企業下單購買新世代廁所和萬能處理器。克萊爾、艾科森、SCG石化和Eram Scientific等公司已經推出了他們的首批新世代廁所產品，中國中車、Sedron Technologies和Ankur Scientific也推出了他們的萬能處理器產品。

其他商業合作企業也會推出相應的配套技術產品，這些在芬美意公司的創新臭味控制產品基礎上開發而來。

目前共有20多家企業的創新型無下水道連接的衛生產品，已可供商業化。我們的新合作夥伴驪住集團之後會分享是他們是如何參與到這一行業中來的。這只是第一波新型衛生技術解決方案，未來會湧現出更多。

然而，僅有企業製造和銷售新產品的熱情是不夠的。我們還需要中央和地方政府創造有利環境，出台政策法規，鼓勵創新衛生服務模式，推動政府與私營部門合作。

讓我備受鼓舞的是，在印度、南非、塞內加爾、孟加拉、尼泊爾等越來越多的國家，領導層開始重視用創新的方式實現廁所安全。

中國開展了廁所革命，並且正在加速推進安全廁所建設，使其具備了率先啟動無下水道廁所市場的潛力。值得注意的是，今天在博覽會上發布產品的克萊爾、艾科森和中國中車這三個合作夥伴都是中國企業。這顯示出中國有推進離網式廁所產業化的興趣，而且不僅可以滿足中國國內需求，還可以滿足國際市場的需求。

我們期待著中國儘快採納無下水道衛生行業的最高標準——ISO30500，這有助於中國更快地樹立在新一代廁所產業中的領導地位。

全球金融和發展機構也對此作出了積極的響應。世界銀行、亞洲開發銀行和非洲開發銀行宣布了新的承諾，有望為城市全覆蓋衛生項目（Citywide Inclusive Sanitation） 提供高達25億美元的資金支持。

這些承諾可以幫助生活在城市每一個角落——包括最貧困的社區的人們，獲得安全管理的衛生服務，而且可以加快離網式衛生解決方案——正如我們今天在這裡所展示的——在中低收入國家的普及。

此外，聯合國兒童基金會和法國國際開發署今天也宣布了新的戰略和承諾，加快創新解決方案的落實。這些消息都很振奮人心。

我們一直謹慎地思考慈善的作用，其中一項更適合我們去做的就是，幫助私營部門和政府部門降低採納新技術的門檻和風險，這樣就更具規模化地解決社會問題。

我們在衛生領域也是本著同樣的原則，投資於早期研發，這樣其他人就能進一步開發、試點、推廣和銷售這些新的解決方案。蓋茨基金會承諾再投資2億美元用於持續研發，從而為貧困人口降低新型衛生產品的成本，並在新型無下水道衛生產品最能帶來廣泛影響的地區支持市場培育。

我們目前正處在全球廁所革命的拐點。問題已經不是我們能否發明新一代的技術，而是我們能否儘快普及這類新型離網式解決方案。雖然我們無法準確預測需要多久，但我希望是分秒必爭。

謝謝大家!

I shared the stage with a beaker of poop in China

It』s not often you stand on a stage next to a sample of human feces.

Yesterday, I used a beaker of poop as a prop during my speech at the Reinvented Toilet Expo in Beijing. It caused some giggles in the crowd—but I brought it out to draw attention to a serious issue that kills more than 500,000 people every year: poor sanitation.

More than half of the world』s population uses unsafe sanitation facilities. The pathogens from their waste find their way into the local water supply and make people sick. Innovation was a key driving force behind China』s economic transformation, and I believe it can do the same for improving sanitation. As I wrote on TGN yesterday next-generation, sewer-less toilets have the potential to transform the lives of millions of people.

I spoke about the potential and promise of these toilets during my speech. Here is the full text of my prepared remarks:

Remarks as prepared

Reinvented Toilet Expo

November 6, 2018

Beijing, China

Good morning, and thank you, Ms. Tian, for that kind introduction. I』d like to thank Mr. Chen Zhou, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and the China Chamber of International Commerce for co-hosting this event.

It』s great to be in China again, and it』s fitting that we are meeting here for the Reinvented Toilet Expo. In recent decades, China has made great progress improving health and sanitation for hundreds of millions of people. President Xi』s Toilet Revolution underscores China』s commitment to accelerating progress on safe sanitation. And China has an opportunity to help launch a new category of innovative, decentralized sanitation solutions that will benefit millions of people worldwide.

Although the people in this room come from varied backgrounds—government, the private sector, development banks, academia, and philanthropy—we are all here for one reason: because more than half the world』s population doesn』t have the safe sanitation they need to lead healthy and productive lives.

Those of you in government are here because you want to find a way to solve the large and growing problem of what to do about human waste, especially in urban areas.

Those of you in the private sector are here because—with new advances in technology—you see a market opportunity to meet the needs of 4.5 billion people worldwide. Opportunities of that scale don』t come along very often.

You might guess what』s in this beaker—and you』d be right. Human feces. This small amount of feces could contain as many as 200 trillion rotavirus cells, 20 billion Shigella bacteria, and 100,000 parasitic worm eggs.

In places without safe sanitation, there is much more than one small beaker』s worth in the environment. These and other pathogens cause diseases like diarrhea, cholera, and typhoid that kill nearly 500,000 children under the age of five every year.

Unsafe sanitation also puts a huge economic burden on countries that can least afford it. Globally, it costs an estimated $223 billion a year in the form of higher health costs and lost productivity and wages.

And the problem will get worse if we don』t do something about it. Population growth, urbanization, and water scarcity over the next few decades will make it even more difficult for cities in Africa and Asia—cities that are already struggling with inadequate sanitation systems—to break the cycle of disease and poverty associated with unsafe sanitation.

I became interested in sanitation about a decade ago when I stopped working full time at Microsoft, and Melinda and I began traveling more frequently to poor countries.

We visited communities where children were playing in lanes filled with human waste, where pit latrines were emptied by hand, where the stench of community toilets was so bad that people didn』t want to use them, and where families drank water contaminated with human waste.

This was a dimension of poverty we hadn』t seen before, and it motivated us to try to do something about it. It wasn』t just the degradation and suffering that people face every day doing something that』s essential and natural for all human beings. It was also because so much of what Melinda and I seek to achieve in saving and improving lives can』t be accomplished unless people everywhere have safe sanitation.

It became clear to us that if the world was going to continue making progress against the diseases of poverty, we』d have to create a new way of looking at—and eventually solving—the global sanitation crisis.

In 2009, I posed a question to a group of scientists and engineers: was it possible to leapfrog the long-accepted 「gold standard」 of sanitation: flush toilets, sewers, and treatment plants?

Could we come up with a more affordable approach that could kill pathogens and keep pace with the needs of fast-growing urban areas—without requiring sewer infrastructure or reliance on scarce water resources or continuous electricity to operate?

Some people were skeptical that this was achievable. I get it. it』s hard to envision a totally different way of doing something that is so deeply rooted; that just feels like 「the way things are.」

Early in my own life and career, there was a time when 「the way things were」 in computing was a big mainframe computer that only large corporations and governments could afford. Some of us had another idea. We dreamed about personal computers that anyone could use. A lot of people told us we were crazy. But we believed in it and found other people who shared our vision. Now, people can』t imagine the world the way it was back in the day of the mainframe.

I believe it is possible to achieve something like this in sanitation, and that』s why we have invested more than $200 million over the last seven years working with partners to develop a new generation of non-sewered sanitation technologies.

There were two main things we knew we had to accomplish. The first was to make it easier and cheaper to effectively manage fecal sludge across the sanitation service chain.

This diagram shows the scale of this problem. In the Global South, 62% of fecal sludge is not safely managed. In some cities, the problem is much worse. In one city in South Asia, 97% of human waste is untreated. And many countries are not yet even reporting how much of their waste is getting treated.

Some of the untreated human waste is in unlined pit latrines that contaminates groundwater around people』s homes. Some is collected manually, or by trucks, and is dumped into nearby fields or bodies of water. And some is collected in sewers but never gets treated. The point is that we are far from the goal the world set in 2015 of everyone using a safely-managed toilet.

To help address this problem, we worked with partners to develop a small-scale treatment plant to process fecal sludge and biosolids from pit latrines, septic tanks, and sewers. The self-powered technology—which can be located almost anywhere—is called the Omni-Processor. It takes in human waste, kills dangerous pathogens, and converts the resulting materials into products with potential commercial value—like clean water, electricity, and fertilizer.

The second challenge was to invent a pathogen-killing toilet that is also self-contained—with a tiny treatment plant built in. We call this the Reinvented Toilet, which is actually a collection of innovative technologies that use different approaches to break down human waste and destroy germs—leaving behind clean water and solids that can be used as fertilizer...or that can be disposed of safely outdoors without further treatment.

The initial demand for the Reinvented Toilet will be in places like schools, apartment buildings, and community toilet facilities.

As adoption of these multi-unit toilets increases—and the cost continues to drop—a new category of reinvented toilets will become available for use in people』s homes—in developing countries where people have limited resources and in developed countries for people who want or need an off-grid household toilet.

Let me show you one example of what the reinvented toilet could look like for household use—designed by the Swiss engineering firm, Helbling.

In addition, partners have made great progress developing other breakthrough technologies to control malodors, separate urine from solids, manage menstrual hygiene, and treat liquids.

I have to say, a decade ago I never imagined that I』d know so much about poop. And I definitely never thought that Melinda would have to tell me to stop talking about toilets and fecal sludge at the dinner table.

But I』m quite enthusiastic about what has been accomplished in just seven years. This expo showcases, for the first time, radically new and pilot-tested approaches to sanitation that will provide effective alternatives for collecting, managing, and treating human waste. The technologies you』ll see here are the most significant advances in sanitation in nearly 200 years.

None of this would have been possible without an exceptional worldwide team of engineers, scientists, companies, and universities committed to reinventing the urban sanitation system.

It』s exciting that solving the problem of unsafe sanitation will also create a new multi-billion-dollar business opportunity.

One of the things we』re able to do as a foundation is invest in the early stage R&D needed to create a path forward for the private sector to commercialize technologies and products that also help us achieve our goals. It』s a real win-win.

Consider just the new generation of reinvented toilets. We estimate that by 2030, this will be a $6 billion a year global business opportunity. If you add the Omni-Processor and related products and services, the market potential for decentralized sanitation solutions is likely much larger.

Like all transformative technologies, the next step is to scale these advances in collaboration with all of you.

Today, I』m pleased to say that a growing number of companies are ready to take orders for Reinvented Toilets and for the Omni-Processor. Companies like Clear, Eco-San, SCG Chemicals, and Eram Scientific Solutions are announcing their first reinvented toilet products. And CRRC, Sedron Technologies, Ankur Scientific, and Tide Technocrats are announcing their Omni-Processors.

Other commercial partners will be announcing the availability of products based on Firmenich』s innovative solution for malodor control.

In total, more than 20 companies are business-ready with innovative, non-sewered sanitation products. And I understand that Lixil, a new partner, will be telling us more about their involvement later this morning. This is the first wave of new sanitation solutions and technologies—with more to come.

But it』s not enough for companies to be interested in making and selling new products. It』s also important for national and local governments to create an enabling environment with policies and regulations that encourage innovative sanitation service models, including with the private sector.

I』m encouraged by the leadership of a growing number of countries that are embracing a smart approach to safe sanitation, such as India, South Africa, Senegal, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

China』s Toilet Revolution and its action plan for accelerating progress on safe sanitation underscores its potential as a launch market for non-sewered sanitation solutions. It』s notable that three of the partners making announcements here—Clear, Ecosan, and CRRC – are based in China. This highlights China』s interest in commercialization of off-grid sanitation solutions to meet not only the demands of China』s domestic market but also the needs of a global market ready for change.

We look forward to China adopting a high-level standard [ISO30500] for the non-sewered sanitation industry, which will further accelerate its leadership of a new commercial sanitation sector.

There is also positive momentum among finance and development institutions. The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the African Development Bank are announcingcommitments with the potential to unlock $2.5 billion in financing for City-Wide Inclusive Sanitation projects.

These commitments will help provide people in all parts of a city—including the poorest neighborhoods—with safely-managed sanitation services. And the banks』 pledges could help accelerate adoption of off-grid sanitation solutions—like the ones exhibited here—in low- and middle-income countries.

In addition, UNICEF and the French Development Agency will announce new strategies and commitments to accelerate deployment of innovative sanitation solutions. This is all great news.

We try to be thoughtful about the role of philanthropy—and one of the things we』re best placed to do is lower barriers and risk for the private sector and for governments to adopt new solutions to solve big problems.

That』s what we』ve tried to do with our investment so far in sanitation—so others can further develop, pilot, market, and sell these new solutions. We』re committed to supporting these efforts with an additional $200 million for continued R&D to help bring down the costs of new products for the poor, and to support market development in regions where new, non-sewered sanitation solutions can have the greatest impact.

Today, we are on the cusp of a sanitation revolution. It』s no longer a question of if we can do it. It』s a question of how quickly this new category of off-grid solutions will scale. We don』t know exactly how long that will take, but we do know it can』t happen fast enough.

Thank you.