Tactile sent research and strategy teams to Africa, Malaysia, and Cambodia to learn about existing sanitation infrastructures and systems. Our designers surveyed locally available resources, such as funding, manpower and skilled labor, engineering expertise, machinery, building materials, water, and local transportation. These resources often were in poor condition or scarce supply. Further consideration was given to political obstacles and opportunities. Public and municipal mandates, community conflict and gender prejudice, cultural norms, community and civil budgets, and local health priorities all proved integral to understanding the scope of the problem.

Research proved that a sanitation solution not only had to reduce the spread of disease and benefit the standard of living, but must also function as a profitable business. Figuring out how to accomplish that within the confines of a challenging geography and tough economic realities required strategic thinking. Tactile aimed to develop a way for local entrepreneurs to profit from collecting and processing fecal sludge and urban organic waste, extracting the reusable water, and turning the rest into fuel or fertilizer.