A technology-first comparison for facility managers, procurement teams, and sustainability officers

Waterless urinals are no longer a novelty. With 54% of India facing high to extreme water stress, and conventional urinals consuming anywhere between 1 and 4 litres per flush — adding up to 50,000 to 1,50,000 litres per urinal per year — the shift to waterless technology is accelerating across offices, airports, hotels, hospitals, and manufacturing plants.

But here’s the question nobody answers clearly: which waterless urinals brand actually works under Indian conditions?

If you’ve done any research, you’ll have encountered four names: Zerodor, Urimat, Sloan, and Falcon. Each claims to save water. Each claims to be odour-free. But they are built on fundamentally different technologies — and those differences matter enormously in the Indian context.

This article breaks them down fairly, based entirely on publicly available information about how each technology works, and what those design choices mean for the realities of Indian facilities.

First, understand why Waterless Urinals technology type matters more than brand name

All four waterless urinals brands solve the same problem: block sewer gases from rising through the drain pipe without using water to flush. But the mechanism each uses is completely different — and each mechanism carries its own set of strengths, limitations, and maintenance requirements.

Before choosing a brand, you need to understand the technology category it belongs to. There are essentially three categories:

1. Liquid sealant cartridge systems — Urine passes through a biodegradable oil-based sealant that floats in the cartridge, forming a barrier against sewer gases. The cartridge is replaced periodically (typically every 7,000 uses or every 3–4 months in high-traffic settings). Sloan and Falcon both use this approach.

2. Membrane/rubber valve systems — A vertical rubber or silicone membrane opens when urine enters, lets it pass, then closes airtight, blocking gas. The trap (cartridge housing the membrane) is replaceable. Urimat’s patented MB-ActiveTrap uses this approach.

3. Mechanical ball valve systems — A buoyant ball valve floats up when urine enters (allowing it to drain), then settles back into its seat when flow stops, physically blocking the drain opening. No sealant liquid, no membrane to tear, no cartridge. This is Zerodor’s approach.

With that framing in place, let’s look at each brand honestly.

Urimat (Switzerland)

Technology: Membrane-based ActiveTrap (MB-ActiveTrap)

How it works: Urimat uses a patented vertical membrane trap. Urine flows into the trap, pushes through the rubber membrane, and drains into the waste pipe. When flow stops, the membrane closes airtight, sealing off sewer gases. Urimat also uses a biological cleaning stone (MB-ActiveCube) embedded in the trap that releases microorganisms to break down urine deposits.

Strengths:

• No liquid sealant means the membrane trap is not disrupted if a small amount of water enters the system accidentally during cleaning
• The membrane technology has over 20 years of field use across 39+ countries
• Non-porous ceramic bowl design reduces urine deposit and bacterial growth on surfaces
• GreenPro-compatible, supports LEED point calculation

Limitations relevant to India:

• Requires a specially designed Urimat urinal bowl — you cannot retrofit the ActiveTrap into an existing conventional urinal pan. This means full fixture replacement, which adds capital cost and requires more extensive installation work
• Membrane traps have a rated service life of approximately 7,000–8,000 uses, after which the trap needs replacement
• Urimat is a Swiss brand; its distribution and after-sales service network in India is limited compared to countries where it has established operations. Spare parts and trap replacements need to be sourced through authorised channels
• The biological cleaning process requires Urimat’s own MB-ActiveCleaner for best results — a recurring cost item

Best suited for: New construction projects where architects are specifying the fitout from scratch, and where a premium import brand with European certification is a specification requirement.

Sloan (USA)

Technology: Liquid sealant cartridge (WES-150 cartridge)

How it works: At the base of the Sloan Waterfree urinal sits a cartridge filled with a proprietary biodegradable liquid sealant. Urine passes through the sealant (which floats on top), sinks below it, and drains into the waste pipe. The floating sealant layer re-forms as a gas barrier after each use. Sloan’s cartridges include an anti-splash pour spout and an internal baffle to help retain sealant even if water accidentally enters the housing.

Strengths:

• Well-established brand in the US commercial restroom market for decades
• WES-150 cartridge lasts approximately 7,000 uses with a built-in visual indicator for replacement timing
• ADA-compliant models available
• Earns LEED/Green Globe credits

Limitations relevant to India:

• Like Urimat, Sloan Waterfree urinals require a dedicated Sloan urinal fixture — no retrofit option onto existing pans
• Sloan’s primary market is North America; it does not have a direct India presence or service network. Products are available only through import channels (visible on platforms like Ubuy at prices that include international shipping and import fees)
• The liquid sealant cartridge is inherently vulnerable to the single most common maintenance error in Indian facilities: cleaning staff pouring water or mop water into the urinal bowl. A bucket of water washed down the drain flushes the sealant out of the cartridge, breaking the odour seal immediately and requiring cartridge replacement. This is not a theoretical concern — it is one of the most documented failure modes for sealant cartridge technology globally
• Cartridge replacement and fresh sealant replenishment require trained maintenance staff following a specific protocol with a cartridge-extraction tool
• Hard water — prevalent across large parts of India including Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru — contributes to struvite (crystalline mineral deposit) buildup in the drain nipple, which must be cleared each time the cartridge is replaced
• Recurring cartridge cost in India, given import dependency, is higher than the sticker price suggests

Best suited for: US projects or international facilities with procurement specifications tied to North American plumbing standards. Not the practical first choice for an Indian facility buying locally and needing local service.

Falcon (USA)

Technology: Liquid sealant cartridge (FWFC Velocity cartridge)

How it works: Falcon’s approach is nearly identical in category to Sloan’s. The Falcon FWFC Velocity cartridge sits in the urinal base. Urine enters through drain holes, passes through a layer of biodegradable liquid sealant (lighter than urine, so it floats), sinks below it, and exits through a baffle into the drain line. The cartridge also traps uric sediment. Sloan’s WES-150 cartridge is, in fact, a direct OEM equivalent to Falcon’s FWFC cartridge — the two are interchangeable.

Strengths:

• Established global brand with wide presence in stadiums, airports, and commercial buildings internationally
• Velocity cartridge has an improved anti-splash flexible pour spout that concentrates exit speed, helping keep pipes cleaner
• Cartridge lifecycle indicator turns red when replacement is due — visual cue for maintenance staff
• Earns LEED and Green Globe certifications

Limitations relevant to India:

• Falcon is an American brand; formal India distribution is limited. Prices on Indian platforms like IndiaMart show units at ₹24,000+, typically stocked by a small number of third-party importers in Pune
• As with Sloan, the liquid sealant cartridge carries the same structural vulnerability to water being poured in by cleaning staff — Falcon’s own documentation and every third-party maintenance guide highlights this as the primary cause of cartridge failure
• Requires a dedicated Falcon urinal bowl; retrofit to existing pans is not possible
• Average cartridge life of 7,000 uses means a high-traffic urinal (say, 100 uses per day) needs cartridge replacement roughly every 2–2.5 months
• Spare cartridges need to be planned and stocked in advance; supply chain disruption means a urinal without a replacement cartridge either smells or is taken out of service
• No pan-India service network

Best suited for: New construction premium projects where international certification and imported fixtures are part of the specification, and where a full-time, well-trained maintenance team can manage the cartridge protocol correctly.

Zerodor (India — IIT Delhi spinoff, Ekam Eco Solutions)

Technology: Mechanical ball valve retrofit kit

How it works: Zerodor replaces the waste coupling in an existing urinal pan with a mechanical assembly containing a buoyant ball valve. When urine enters, the ball floats up, opens the drain passage, and lets liquid flow freely. When flow stops, the ball settles back into its seat under gravity, physically closing the drain opening and blocking sewer gases. No sealant liquid. No membrane. No cartridge. The mechanism is entirely mechanical.

Strengths:

Retrofit capability: This is Zerodor’s most significant practical differentiator for India. The kit installs into your existing urinal pan — you do not need to purchase new fixtures, replace tiles, or undertake civil work. A typical installation takes around 10–15 minutes. For any facility managing 10, 20, or 50 urinals, this difference in installation scope and capital cost is substantial.

No cartridge, no sealant, no recurring consumable: The ball valve does not use any chemical sealant. There is no cartridge to replace. There are no recurring material costs beyond the initial kit purchase. This eliminates the single biggest operational risk of cartridge-based systems in India — the sealant being destroyed by water during cleaning.

Water-resistant by design: Because Zerodor relies on a physical ball valve rather than a floating liquid barrier, water entering the bowl during cleaning does not compromise the odour-sealing mechanism. The ball simply floats with the water and settles back into place when the water drains.

Made in India, maintained in India: Zerodor waterless urinals is manufactured in Ahmedabad, developed from over 5,000 man-hours of research at IIT Delhi, and has a pan-India sales and service network. Spare parts are locally available. Customer support is a phone call away. There is no import lead time for replacements.

Certifications: India’s first GreenPro Certified waterless urinal (CII-IGBC). India Design Mark. Supports LEED, IGBC, and GRIHA green building certification points. Recognised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

Proven at scale: Deployed across 700+ organisations including Indian Railways, airports, DCB Bank, and Fortune 500 corporate campuses. One installation at DCB Bank saves over 6.8 million litres of water per year.

Limitations to consider honestly:

• Zerodor is compatible with waterless urinals that have a waste coupling (the porous drain fitting through which urine flows). Urinals where the drain passage is moulded directly into the pan body — without a separate waste coupling — cannot be retrofitted with Zerodor. This needs to be checked before purchase
• Being a mechanical device, the ball valve should be inspected periodically and cleaned as part of routine washroom maintenance. The company recommends specific bio-enzymatic cleaning solutions to maintain the drain line
• Zerodor is optimised for the Indian market — facility managers looking for globally recognised imported brand names on a specification sheet may perceive it differently from an internationally certified import, which can matter in certain premium hospitality or multinational corporate contexts

Best suited for: Any Indian facility — office buildings, manufacturing plants, hospitals, hotels, schools, railway stations, airports — particularly those looking to convert existing urinals without replacing fixtures, and organizations that need local service, local spare parts, and a short ROI cycle.

The India factor: why waterless urinals technology context matters

Every comparison between these brands has to account for realities that don’t come up in a European or American product review.

Cleaning staff behaviour: In a typical Indian commercial facility, housekeeping staff clean urinals with mop water, buckets, and whatever cleaning agent is available. This is not negligence — it is simply the standard practice. Liquid sealant cartridge systems (Sloan, Falcon) are critically vulnerable to this. The moment a bucket of water is poured into a sealant-based waterless urinal, the floating oil barrier is destroyed. The cartridge must then be replaced immediately, or the restroom will smell worse than a conventional flushed urinal. This failure mode is so common globally that it is extensively documented in every major waterless urinal maintenance guide. Urimat’s membrane system is more tolerant, but still requires trained staff and specific cleaning products. Zerodor’s ball valve is immune to this risk.

Spare parts and service availability: When a cartridge fails or a membrane tears at 11 PM in an airport or hospital, the facility manager needs a solution. With imported brands, the options are limited — the right cartridge must be in stock, or the urinal goes offline. With Zerodor waterless urinals, the company has a pan-India network and a warranty programme. This is not a minor operational point for a facility running 24/7.

Hard water: Indian municipal water supply in most major cities is hard to very hard (250–500+ ppm TDS in many zones). Hard water accelerates uric acid and struvite scale formation in drain lines. Cartridge-based systems require the struvite to be physically cleared from the drain nipple at every cartridge change — a step that is often skipped by untrained staff, leading to progressive blockages. Zerodor’s mechanical system does not use a cartridge housing where struvite can accumulate in the same way, though drain line maintenance remains important for any waterless system.

Cost structure: Initial sticker price is only part of the story. For a facility with 20 urinals, consider:

• Replacing Falcon or Sloan cartridges at ₹2,500–₹3,000 each (India import pricing), every 2–3 months per high-traffic urinal, across 20 urinals over 3 years = a significant recurring cost in addition to the fixture replacement cost
• Urimat traps, sourced through import channels, carry similar recurring logic
• Zerodor’s kit has a one-time purchase cost with no mandatory recurring consumable

Which one should you choose?

Choose Zerodor if you are managing an Indian facility, want to convert existing urinals without civil workinto waterless urinals, need local after-sales service, are working within a realistic budget, and want a technology that is resilient to the real conditions of Indian housekeeping.

Consider Urimat if you are specifying a new premium construction project (hotel, airport, corporate headquarters) from scratch, have the budget for imported fixtures and ongoing trap replacement costs, and have a trained, dedicated facility management team.

Consider Sloan or Falcon if you are working on a project with North American plumbing specifications, or if the project has an import requirement for globally recognised brand names — and you have an established cartridge supply chain and trained maintenance staff to manage the sealant protocol correctly.

A note on fairness

This article is written by Ekam Eco Solutions, the company behind Zerodor. We have made a deliberate effort to describe each competing technology accurately, based on what each company publicly states about its own products, and to contextualise the comparison for Indian conditions honestly. The limitations of cartridge-based systems described here — sealant disruption by water, struvite buildup, import dependency — are not fabricated. They are documented in product manuals, maintenance guides, and independently published facility management literature.

We believe the best way to earn your trust is to help you make an informed decision, not to obscure the competition. If you are genuinely evaluating waterless urinals for your facility, we are happy to arrange a demonstration, share a cost-benefit analysis for your specific usage, or connect you with one of our 700+ clients who can speak from experience.

Zerodor is a patented waterless urinal technology developed by Ekam Eco Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a research spinoff of IIT Delhi. India’s first GreenPro Certified waterless urinals. Deployed across 700+ organizations nationwide.

For a demo or consultation: www.zerodor.in | +91-98 1603 1603

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