17 Sept 2026
UK’s New Invention That Could Make the Toilet Obsolete

The flush toilet hasn’t fundamentally changed since 1775, when Alexander Cumming patented the S-bend pipe — and with England facing a projected water shortfall of 5 billion litres a day by 2055, Cranfield University engineers have spent over a decade building a toilet that uses no water and no sewer connection at all. This video breaks down how the Nano Membrane Toilet works, using hollow fibre membranes that pull water out as vapour while leaving pathogens behind, and a built-in gasifier that burns waste solids into ash while generating the power to run the whole system. We explain why this closed-loop design, tested in South Africa’s eThekwini municipality, still hasn’t reached the market, and compare it to two other British alternatives, Propelair’s compressed-air flush and Loowatt’s waterless waste-sealing system, and why cost and habit, not physics, are the real barriers. If you’re into engineering innovation, UK water crisis solutions, and sustainable sanitation technology, this is the definitive look at the invention trying to replace one of history’s longest-running unchanged designs.