Bangkok, 24 August 2026 — The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and the World Toilet Organization (WTO) today announced that the World Toilet Summit 2026 will take place from 17 to 19 November 2026 at the AIT campus in Pathum Thani, Thailand, closing on 19 November, United Nations World Toilet Day. The summit marks the World Toilet Organization’s 25th anniversary.
The announcement was made at a press conference in Nonthaburi, where Mr. Jack Sim, Founder of the World Toilet Organization; Dr. Amporn Benjaponpitak, Director-General of the Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health; Dr. Roshan Raj Shrestha of the World Toilet Organization; and Ms. Sirilak Lirasiri, Director of the Environmental Sanitation Office at the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Health Department, joined Professor Manukid Parnichkun, Vice President for Academic and Research at AIT.
WTS 2026 is co-organised by AIT’s Global Water & Sanitation Center (GWSC), led by Co-Directors Professor Thammarat Koottatep and Professor Sangam Shrestha, and the World Toilet Organization, with the Department of Health and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration as host partners.
“The World Toilet Summit is not a talk shop,” said Mr. Sim, who created World Toilet Day on 19 November 2001 and campaigned until all 193 United Nations member states adopted it as an official observance in 2013. “It is a pragmatic conference that has legacy. After every conference there is a follow-up for many, many years — sometimes 10 years, 20 years.” To mark the organisation’s 25th year in Bangkok, he said, was “a very, very proud moment for us”.
Dr. Amporn said the Department of Health and its network partners are advancing the summit under the theme “Safe Toilets, Reused Resources, and Healthy Communities”, with the aim of elevating sanitation from an everyday concern to a global public and environmental health priority. The summit will promote sanitation systems that are safe and accessible to all, encourage the transformation of waste into valuable resources, and strengthen resilience to climate change.
She noted that although more than 99.8 per cent of households in Thailand have access to toilets, public toilets and sanitation facilities still require improvement to meet the standards of Health, Accessibility and Safety (HAS). Thailand’s approach, she said, goes beyond cleanliness alone, encompassing health, safety, equity, environmental responsibility, sustainability and resilience to the impacts of climate change. The summit is also an opportunity for Thailand to share its knowledge, technologies and sanitation innovations internationally while learning from global best practice.
“It is my pleasure to announce that the World Toilet Summit 2026 will be organised by the Asian Institute of Technology, in partnership with the World Toilet Organization, at our institute, from 17 to 19 November,” Professor Manukid said. “AIT’s mission is teaching, research and outreach, and we try very much to focus on applying what we study in the class to real applications. We expect delegations from government leaders, city authorities, manufacturers, financiers and researchers in the field.”
He drew attention to the closing date. “Some of us may not know that 19 November is World Toilet Day,” he said. “It is a day on which we recognise the work of our honoured participant today, Jack Sim, and his World Toilet Organization.”
Dr. Roshan said Thailand’s own record was the reason for bringing the summit here. “We have seen so many clean toilets — an exemplar business model in operation,” he said. “So this will be a good live platform for people to see and learn from.” He described the summit as South-to-South collaboration, with delegates expected from South and Southeast Asia and from Africa.
Professor Sangam set out the challenge the summit is designed to address. “About 58 per cent of the world’s population has access to safely managed sanitation — but about 3.4 billion people still lack safely managed sanitation,” he said, pointing to climate change and urbanisation as compounding pressures. The share of the world’s population living in cities is expected to rise from about half today to almost 68 per cent by 2050.
Professor Thammarat said Thailand has strong potential to become a global model for sanitation and toilet management, building on the country’s high standards of toilet hygiene and advancing toward comprehensive and sustainable faecal sludge management.
“The World Toilet Summit 2026 will serve as a global platform for policy dialogue, knowledge exchange, and the showcase of sanitation innovations and technologies from Thailand and around the world,” he said. “In particular, the Summit will highlight technologies that can transform waste from sanitation systems into valuable resources, including energy, fertiliser, biochar and reusable water. We hope Thailand can serve as a demonstration and testing ground for these technologies and help scale successful solutions across Asia, Africa and other regions worldwide.”
The programme is built around three tracks: climate-resilient sanitation for cities and communities, the circular sanitation economy, and moving from dialogue to delivery through markets and matchmaking. Implementation clinics will put cities and governments in front of solution providers, financiers and technical experts. A pre-summit day on 16 November features the Urgent Run, campus site visits and a student hackathon, and the WTO Hall of Fame Awards take place on 18 November.
Ms. Sirilak said Bangkok — a major metropolis serving more than ten million residents, non-registered residents and visitors — places strong emphasis on upgrading public toilets to meet the HAS standards, in line with the city’s vision of “A Livable City for All”.
“We believe that access to clean, safe and standard-compliant public toilets is a fundamental right for everyone and an essential part of building a healthy city,” she said. “Bangkok is therefore committed to working with all sectors and leveraging the World Toilet Summit 2026 as an important platform for knowledge exchange and international collaboration to advance sanitation, improve quality of life, and create a healthier and more sustainable city for all.”
Registration for the World Toilet Summit 2026 is now open.
Link to register: https://www.eventpop.me/e/167931/wts2026
