Contest: MacGyver a Low-Cost Loo

Yes, everybody poops, but it’s where we do it that makes the difference between sanitation and the spread of diseases. Those of us in the developed world take indoor toilets for granted, but many developing communities don’t have that luxury, and they suffer for it. Every year millions die from poor water quality and sanitation. Peeps need a better place for poops!

So what would MacGyver do? That’s the challenge you can solve in our first Make: / MacGyver Foundation MacGyver-in-a-Box (MIB) design challenge: to develop cost-effective home toilets to improve the sanitation of developing communities. Like Mac himself, we’re looking for clever ways to solve local problems with low-cost, low-tech solutions.

The contest submission window runs from November 1 until December 31st, 2025. Visit macgyver.com/foundation/macgyver-in-a-box/ to learn more about the challenge and submit your entry.

In Make: Volume 93 our friends at the MacGyver Foundation reported on their 2025 launch of the MacGyver-in-a-Box project, an ambitious effort to develop a package of low-cost infrastructure technologies, including power, clean water and sanitation, refrigeration and cooking, home heating and cooling, transportation, communications, medical, and more — “in short, everything a village might need to get started or start again, in developing communities or disaster impacted areas.” This MIB home toilet design challenge is intended to be the first of many opportunities for makers and inventors to share their ideas and help solve problems for those less fortunate. We think the Make: community can help. Once again, isn’t that what MacGyver would do?