With atleast 2.6 billion people in the world without improved sanitation, uncontained and untreated human excreta pollute groundwater tables, streams, lakes and coastal zones, helping to perpetuate the cycle of human disease and upsetting fragile aquatic ecosystems by nutrient overloading and eutrophication. Hence, the need to “close the loop” on nutrients dictates a paradigm shift towards sustainable sanitation is necessary. This paper discusses how ecological sanitation provides alternative solutions with or without water, while providing containment, treatment and recycling of excreta.