Sanitation and Hygiene for all
Created in 2012 with the purpose to tackle the global sanitation challenge, SATO is an award-winning social business which aims to empower underserved communities so they can live safer and more confident lives. We offer innovative, aspirational yet affordable sanitation and hygiene solutions for a better toilet experience.
Consumer-centric, our products have been developed based on our customers’ needs and wants. Ranging from toilet pans and connection systems to tap for handwashing, our solutions are durable, water-saving, easy to install and simple to use.
In order to increase the reach of our product line and improve sanitation globally, we have established last-longing partnerships with local manufacturers, NGOs and inter-governmental organizations such as UNICEF, USAID and JICA. A part of LIXIL, maker of pioneering water and housing products, SATO has impacted more than 25 million lives since inception, having produced and shipped over 5.1 million units across 38 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Our product line has won a number of prestigious awards, including the Red Dot Design Award and the Deputy-Chief’s Award from the Japan SDG Awards, for the SATO Toilet solutions, while the SATO Tap got recognized by TIME Magazine as Best Inventions of 2020 and honored as finalists at the Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards 2021.
SATO Stories
Discover real stories of lives changed by SATO, peek behind the scenes of the design process, and more.
An innovative and affordable sanitation and hygiene solution
LIXIL developed the first product in the SATO series - the blue plastic toilet pan placed directly over a single pit - with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The toilet pan was launched in Bangladesh in 2013.
SATO toilet pans feature an automatically-closing trap door that blocks odors and insects. A small amount of water (0.2 to 1 liter) opens the trap door to eliminate waste, which shuts itself tightly after use. In 2017, a model called the SATO V-trap Connection System was developed for the Indian market. Each SATO product is designed to meet the unique needs of the local market it serves.
In 2020, SATO introduced an innovative handwashing solution called the “SATO Tap” to improve hygiene for millions in developing economies. Washing your hands thoroughly with soap reduces the spread of disease and can help prevent COVID-19 infection. But for approximately 3 billion people around the world, this step is out of reach. To help protect these communities, SATO Tap was introduced, developed to be affordable and attractive for low-income households and designed to allow use anywhere in the home, even without access to a supply of running water.
Products manufactured locally
SATO is a self-sustaining social business that establishes a local Make, Sell, Use cycle in the community—creating jobs and allowing local manufacturers and stakeholders to continue the business independently. This allows a country to continuously improve its own sanitation over time.
SATO products around the world
Countries reached
People using
SATO
SATO units
shipped
Today, more than 5.1 million SATO units have been shipped in countries around the world, effectively improving sanitation for over 25 million people*.
SATO products have been shipped across 41 countries, including Bangladesh, India, Kenya, and Uganda.
*Based on units provided. An average of 5 people benefits from one unit.