2019
Dry Toilet award was given to the Finnish Defence Forces’ Mortti-group. Mortti-group made it possible to implement a pilot research toilet project in the Pori Brigade. The project included 3 months field test for onsite urine treatment, with technology created by SLU, as well as many other activities to improve technical solutions for sanitation in camping and outdoor events. Mortti-group took very important role to improve sanitation and environmental issues in the area and was very committed to implement the pilot in the Pori Brigade.
2018
Kari and Juha Sipilä from Kangasala and Jussi Mikkola and Maria Kämäri from Iittala received the award of the year. Farms owned by Kari and Juha Sipilä, and Jussi Mikkola ja Maria Kämäri provided arable land for nutrient testing for the third year in a row. The rationale for the award emphasized the open-minded participation of these farms in the Biourea and Hierakka projects. The Biourea project aimed to commercialize urine and toilet compost into fertilizer. Biourea and Hierakka projects were projects lead by Global Dry Toilet Association of Finland and Tampere University of Applied Sciences.
2017
The award was given to the Hiedanranta Development Program of the City of Tampere. The recognition was received by Reijo Väliharju, Project Development Director of Hiedanranta. A district with 25,000 inhabitants and 10,000 workplaces is planned for the Hiedanranta area of Tampere. Even before the construction of the area in Hiedanranta, there has been a desire to promote the circular economy through concrete experiments. Communities, companies and educational institutions have been given the opportunity to implement various development projects in the region.
2016
This year the award was given to our former Chairperson, Mia O’Neill, who has, since 2010 promoted this important issue as her passion and used countless hours to share the word about dry toilets. Mia was our Chairperson for 6 years, and during that time she successfully developed the association and e.g. lead the association in arranging two international Dry Toilet -conferences, all this without any financial compensation.
2015
This year, the Award was presented to Taavi Seppälä, the host of the Nekala allotment garden in the city of Tampere. Pitchfork was presented to Seppälä in recognition of his exemplary promotion of dry toilets and the nutrient cycle. His dedication as a promoter of dry toilets has been groundbreaking and other allotment gardens have been looking for examples of toilet fertilizer handling and end use.
2014
The recipient of the 2014 Pitchfork is Pekka Kariniemi, Chairman of the Board of Biolan. Pekka Kariniemi has been a pioneer in the sustainable nutrient cycle and has set an example for other actors in the field. Biolan is a good example of how nutrient recycling can also be a productive business. We wanted to reward Kariniemi not only for this year but for his life’s work as an advocate for dry toilet facilities.
2013
This year’s award was given to an environmental organization Dodo. Dodo has broken prejudices about dry toilets being only as a solution suitable for sparsely populated areas. Dodo has brought a dry toilet to their garden in the middle of Helsinki and wants to show that sanitation can also be done differently in cities. This has required lots of work of the volunteers to convince the agencies about the dry toilet being the best solution for their purpose. From now on, the Dodo can serve as a pioneer and a positive precedent for those planning a dry toilet in a public place in an urban area.
2012
Annual Dry Toilet Award – “the Golden Pitchfork” – was presented to Mrs. Raini Kiukas, who is one of the founders of the Global Dry Toilet Association of Finland. The Association thanks her for spreading the word of DT (dry toilet) technology all over the world and for kicking off the series of Dry Toilet Conferences.
2011
Dry Toilet Award was given to two person, Ph.D. Helvi Heinonen-Tanski from University of Eastern Finland and M.Sc. (Tech.) Erkki Santala from Finnish Environment Institute. They both have persistently enhanced the appropriate wastewater treatment in rurals areas of Finland. They have also mentioned that a dry toilet is a very good option in rural areas.
2010
Dry Toilet Award was given to professor Tuula Tuhkanen (Tampere University of technology) and web study module Safe and Sustainable Sanitation.
2009
The award was presented to Nina Stenros and Anu Valve, who made the TV-series Shit happens “Paska Juttu”. Shit happens was a TV document consisting four parts. It presented Finnish toilet history, international toilet culture and showed when and why people are using water flush toilet and what was happened to that flushing material.
2008
The “Golden pitchfork” was given to Restaurateur Ari Aaltonen from Restaurant “Patakukko”. Mr Aaltonen runs a banquet restaurant for 100 people and a summer cafeteria at an old farm house near Kirkkonummi. The facilities are equipped with modern dry toilet units.
2007
The award was presented to Mr Jukka Lindroos from Pikku Vihreä Ltd for his long term work in the dry toilet sector. The company Pikku Vihreä was founded in 1992 and for a long time it was the only dry toilet and composting units selling specialised store in Finland. Mr Lindroos is also a founding member of the Global Dry Toilet Association of Finland.
2006
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland – International environment politics unit of the global affairs department. The award is presented especially to Mr Kari Karanko and Mr Jyrki Nissilä for their help in making it possible for delegates from developing nations attend the Dry Toilet Conferences.
2005
Tampere Polytechnic was awarded for its work on promotion of Dry Toilet Technology. Tampere Polytechnic has selected development of onsite wastewater management as one of their main themes of Research & Development. They have included dry sanitation in their research in exemplary way.
2004
“The Golden Pitchfork” was given to Mrs Sirkka Malkki from the Work Efficiency Institute for her extensive research on dry toilets and composting.
2003
Award was given to the municipality of Västanfjärd for their dedication for dry toilets and non-discharge community program.
2002
The first ever award was presented to “The Makki-team” of the state owned enterprise Metsähallitus, who manages over 12 milj. hectares of state owned land. “The Makki-team” has developed and managed dry toilets in the nature conservation and forest recreation areas of Finland.