‘Mr Toilet’ plunges into film for sanitation’s sake

Singaporean hopes ‘poop culture’ movie will promote better bathroom access worldwide

SINGAPORE: After travelling the world for more than two decades seeking to improve access to bathrooms, “Mr Toilet” Jack Sim is now ready to plunge into the cinematic world with a film about his unusual campaign.

Armed with humour – and sometimes a plunger – the World Toilet Organisation’s founder is the subject of the film Mr Toilet: The World’s #2 Man, set to premiere this week as health campaigners warn that billions are still at risk of disease due to toilet shortages.

“Toilet is my religion and we create a belief system that everybody subscribes to,” the 62-year-old Singaporean said.

“We have to make toilets sexy. If governments understand how much money they are already spending (on public healthcare) without having toilets, there is no reason for them not to build toilets.”

Sim’s work has stretched from Asia to Africa and was the inspiration behind the United Nations’ 2013 declaration of a “World Toilet Day”, in a push to break taboos around toilets.

The UN day is marked on Nov 19 each year – the same date Sim set up his group in 2001 to lobby governments to change their policies and make sanitation accessible for all.

The Singapore-headquartered group builds toilets in places like China and trains local entrepreneurs in India and Cambodia to develop affordable latrines in remote villages.

From India to China and Africa, 60% of the world’s population – or 4.5 billion people – either have no toilet at home or one that does not safely manage human waste, the UN said.

Some 900 million people still practise open defecation, risking disease and causing tens of thousands of diarrhoea-related deaths and chronic malnutrition cases each year, it said.

The UN warned last year that the world is not on track to end open defecation and ensure access to safe toilets for all by 2030, as pledged by countries.

Sim hopes his new film will help turn the tide. Shot in four countries, it will be screened at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto tomorrow.

Sim believes the 2030 UN target can be achieved but said building bathrooms alone is not enough as the key is to turn the poop culture into “pop culture”.

“The cultural transformation must come in because we can build the toilet, but if people don’t use it there is no use. We have to turn toilets into a fashion, a social status,” he said. — Reuters