AN INNOVATIVE and sustainable sanitation solution that could benefit millions of people across Africa and beyond has won this year’s St Andrews prize for the environment.

The Elephant Toilet benefits from a simple design and construction that can be adapted to local building materials.

The prize of $75,000 (£38,500) and a medal was awarded to Ian Thorpe on behalf of his development team at a ceremony at St Andrews University yesterday.

He said he was delighted with the win, which will enable the team to install over 1000 toilets as a pilot programme to benefit more than 20,000 people in southern Malawi.

This is the second major success in the competition for Mr Thorpe, who in 2005—with two teaching colleagues in Zimbabwe—won the prize for developing the Elephant Pump, which is now helping provide some of the poorest people in Africa with reliable and sustainable water supplies.

It is expected the pump will have over 10 million users by 2015, and the 2005 success helped lead to funding awards totalling over £1 million.

The St Andrews prize, is an environmental initiative by St Andrews University, which attracts scholars of international repute and conducts world-class teaching and research, and of Conoco-Phillips, one of the world’s largest integrated energy companies, with operations in more than 40 countries.

Sir Crispin Tickell, chairman of the St Andrews prize for the environment trustees, said the prize is going from strength to strength.

“It is now in its 10th year, and we are delighted that it has become so well established and continues to attract such a range of innovative projects from all over the world,” he said.

“We are looking for entrepreneurs on behalf of the environment—applicants able to champion original and innovative environmental ideas which they can show to be realistic and realisable and which take account of social and economic implications.”

This year’s runners-up, each presented with a cheque for $25,000 (£12,800) were:

* The FOODTUBES+ project, which is still at the concept stage and aims to design and build an energy-saving pipeline capsule goods transportation system.

* The Slow Pyrolysis Process, which has risen to today’s global greenhouse challenge by being the only technology to remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits.

Dr Brian Lang, principal and vice-chancellor of St Andrews University said that for more than six centuries the university had upheld a tradition of academic excellence, and its association with the prize adds weight to its reputation as a world leader in the field of sustainability and environmental studies.

Paul Warwick, Conoco-Phillips’ president for Europe and West Africa, said the St Andrews prize allows recognition of innovative ideas that will help protect our environment and improve the lives of our fellow citizens.

In addition, he said, it rewarded outstanding and environmentally conscious individuals and groups who help make the world a better place.

Since its launch in 1998, the prize has attracted entries on topics as diverse as sustainable development in the Amazon and central American rainforests, urban re-generation, recycling, health and water issues and renewable energy.