Where is Worm-Based Sanitation being used?
We estimate that at least 900,000 people living in at least 13 countries are currently using worm-based sanitation solutions, including vermifilter toilets, faecal sludge treatment plants, and sewage treatment plants. This equates to approximately 250 tonnes of waste being treated and safely taken out of the environment each day, by worm-based sanitation. We recognise that other organisations outside of IWBSA have likely carried out further installations of which we are unaware, and so the number of people using worm-based sanitation globally may actually be well over this estimate.
Vermifilter toilets have been installed in a range of settings including humanitarian camps, rural and peri-rural communities, and urban communities. They have also been adapted to suit different uses, such as household or communal use, and different environments such as areas that are at risk of flooding or have poor soil for infiltration. On a larger scale, composting worms in faecal sludge treatment plants and sewage treatment plants are being used to treat waste from other systems, such as pit latrines, preventing it from being dumped in the environment.
Worm-based sanitation solutions have been installed in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Pakistan, Malawi, Myanmar, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, Uganda, and the United States.
A newly completed vermifilter toilet in India.
USER Experience
Data collation and further research is required to fully assess the user experience of worm-based sanitation. However a project recently completed in Myanmar (Oxfam) found that 99% of households opted to continue using communal vermifilter toilets following the trial period and that satisfaction was linked to the lack of smell and flies, compared to the original latrines. The project also found that the communal vermifilter toilets cost 47% less than traditional pit latrines over a five-year period, as a result of a 34% reduction in construction costs, and a 90% decrease in maintenance costs.
A recent paper published in 2025 studied 598 Tiger Worm Toilet (TWT) households in Pune, India, using the Sanitation-Related Quality of Life (SanQoL) index, a validated measure designed to evaluate sanitation facilities and their impact on user satisfaction and well-being across five key attributes: privacy, safety, disease risk, shame, and disgust. The survey reported a high SanQoL index of 0.94 out of 1, indicating high user satisfaction, alongside low maintenance requirements, including infrequent latrine emptying, with TWT biodigesters remaining in good functional condition for up to 10 years after installation. This study provides strong evidence to support new TWT installations and global scale up in appropriate locations.