The town of Fianarantsoa in Madagascar faces significant sanitation challenges, resulting in various health and environmental impacts. These problems persist due to weak and poorly enforced sanitation regulations, inadequate government services, and a lack of education on sanitation and on available faecal sludge management (FSM) programs. Prior to the establishment of ECO-DIO, there was no FSM service in Fianarantsoa. As a result, only a small percentage of households practiced pit emptying, often done manually by informal laborers using buckets. The majority of households resorted to building new pits or continued using full ones. And the improper disposal of faecal sludge (including dumping in canals, rivers, or near houses) contaminated surface and groundwater systems, posing health and environmental risks.
While ECO-DIO now provides pit and septic tank emptying services, sanitation still remains a pressing issue in Fianarantsoa, especially considering the high percentage of shared and unclean toilets and the continuous need for new toilets. The town requires an expanded pit emptying and faecal sludge treatment service in order to address the estimated sludge flow rate. Although ECO-DIO's treatment facility manages waste safely and hygienically, the low-income level of most of Fianarantsoa's residents contributes to reluctance to pay for sanitation services. In addition, cultural barriers hinder the extraction of organic products derived from faecal sludge.
ECO-DIO provides a hygienic, affordable, and fast pit-emptying and transport service—its low-cost household pit latrine emptying is subsidised by a higher price for commercial enterprises, public buildings, and sanitary blocks. ECO-DIO also provides safe treatment of faecal sludge, which is in turn used to create organic products, such as a natural fertilizer (”Biozezika”) that is proven to be safe, cheaper, and more productive than others on the market. And ECO-DIO's menstrual cup provides an environmentally-friendly and affordable solution for women's menstrual hygiene management. In addition, ECO-DIO is seeking to influence the government to certify faecal sludge-derived organic products, towards creating a sustainable circular economy.