Value from waste – Converting a

problem into a resource

Jeremy Bird, IWMI

Modified from Rockström et al. (2009)

Planetary boundaries

High time for

Resource Recovery

and Reuse!

What if urban wastes and used water could

have a second life in agriculture and the

reuse is actually safe and viable?

Where there's muck

there's money

• In many cultures, wastewater reuse and waste composting have a

long tradition, at least at household level.

• The technical knowledge is available.

• It is an apparent win-win situation for the sanitation, environmental

and agricultural sectors.

• Why is there no large compost plant or

wastewater reuse project in every southern city?

The concept is simple, at least for rural

households

Source: Wikipedia inspired by Peter Morgan

It is not that simple in our urbanizing world

www. Vimeo.com/25122496

This means first of all transport COSTSbetween source and reuse

Atmosphere

Peri-urbanagriculture

Urbanagriculture

Saw-millsBreweries

Poultry farms

Transport/Distribution

Landfill

Fertilizer 1

Fertilizer 2

Food 1

Food 2

Food 3

Consumerproducts 1

Compost 1

SW10

Excre

ta3

SW

3

SW

5

SW

9

SW 11

SW12

Excreta1

WW

1

Gas3

WW

2

BS 1

Rawmaterial

SW 13

Food 4

Consumerproducts 2

Compost 2

Systemborder

Industry

Excreta 2Wood1

Woo

d2

120

1150

13

3200

1700

3200

680

43

230

80

4750

230

530

1010

130

830

220

640

2500

15

90

530

700

<10

18

530

Air1

Air2

Gas5

Gas6

Gas7

400

85

<10

<10

560

Gas1

Gas2

1000

30

<10

Soil

SW

2

640

Leachate

150

Leachate

2110

WW

3

150

SW

6

SW8

7

130

Co-composting

Household

Treatmentof excreta

Scenario 1

Groundwater and surface waters

city level

N t/yr

So

urc

e: S

AN

DE

C/E

AW

AG

It looks easy

But in a city it looks more like this:

Thus, for converting our larger urban waste problems into a resource, we need strategic partnerships and have to apply robust economics and business modeling.

Resource Recovery & Reuse (RRR)A research flagship of CGIAR-WLE

Current Status of RRR program after 18 months

Database of 150+ inspiring RRR business cases

Selection of 60 cases for in-depth analysis (see map)

So far 20 promising business models extracted

Feasibility studies of models starting in 9 cities (map)

Business model implementation targeting 5 cities

Example of a business model currently being implemented in Ghana as a Private Public Partnership :

Fecal Sludge Valorization