Goldeimer started as a project during studies. After graduation, it became a reality. Since 2022, Goldeimer has been under responsible ownership. The company is and will remain non-profit. This means that everyone working there leads the company. The employees understand that the toilet, as it exists today, will not function in the long term. The flushing system, which consumes a lot of water for flushing, will no longer be sustainable in the future. Water on Earth is becoming scarce. In Germany alone, toilet flushes consume about 1 trillion liters of water annually. Therefore, a sanitation revolution is needed, believes Malte Schremmer. He compares this to the energy and mobility transition. Initially, it requires high investments, and the new solution is not the cheapest alternative. But the more research, experimentation, and implementation occur, the worse the current energy-intensive model appears. The alternative, namely the dry toilet, is gaining popularity. The company is driving this process forward with its work.
With nearly 90 dry toilets, the Goldeimer team moves from one festival to the next during the summer. Many volunteers support the operation and educational work. The team has already reached many people. However, the festival operation is not enough to finance Goldeimer sustainably. Additionally, it does not reach all age groups. Therefore, the team has set up a shop. It started with printed toilet paper and now offers both ready-made dry toilets and kits. The educational work is not only done through printed toilet paper. Press work, lobbying, and social media campaigns also play a role. As Schremmer has found over the years, only a few people know that the value chain is the major challenge with toilets.
The current cycle can be summarized as follows: The body digests food and drink and excretes urine and solids during toilet use. Water flushes everything through the flushing system to a sewage treatment plant. There, the water is treated with high electricity and chemical consumption. Malte Schremmer has a better solution that he wants to make socially acceptable again. The contained substances phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and nitrogen should not be lost. This is possible with the dry toilet. Instead of treating contaminated water laboriously, dry material is used to "flush," and the contents of the Goldeimer are then used as fertilizer.
The commissioning of the Goldeimer recycling plant exemplifies that the circular economy concept is also possible with toilets. This saves a lot of water. Additionally, organic fertilizer can replace part of the synthetic fertilizer. On a small scale, Schremmer is already implementing this with his team. The money generated supports sanitation projects worldwide. About 3.5 billion people lack access to secure sanitation. The Sanitation Fund of the GmbH aims to help find a way out of the sanitation crisis with a waterless, decentralized, and circular-oriented sanitation system. Schremmer operates on both local and global levels. However, he wishes that dry toilets would become more popular. He also hopes for significantly more companies to engage with the topic, manufacture dry toilets, and bring them to market.
