An environmentally friendly toilet which could separate urine and faecal waste to create fertilizer is to be widely spread in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Bai Xianjing, deputy-director of the local Red Cross Society, said Friday that thanks to the ecological toilet popularization project jointly sponsored by China Red Cross Society and the Europe Union, nearly 4,000 of the toilets will be built in the Karst area of the region.

The ecological toilet could separate urine and fecal waste through different channels and process the latter into fertilizer which could benefit local agriculture.

The toilets, which only cost up to 400 yuan each, can also efficiently use water.

"Forty-one percent of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is covered by Karst topography. Those areas have suffered soil erosion, floods and draughts for years. To spread the ecological toilet could promote the sustainable development of the local environment," Bai added.

( People's Daily April 27, 2002)