Category: English

Study visit to Gebers and Understenshöjde

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Last week several members of the group had the pleasure of visiting two ecological housing collectives situated in Stockholm – Gebers and Understenshöjden. They invited us into their homes and gave us a glimpse of their lives and shared with us experiences on how it has been to live with urine-separating toilets for more than 25 years.

Visitors and the residents of both communities also had an opportunity to listen to a lecture by Tove Larsen, a renowned researcher from Eawag, where she shared what positive impacts urine diversion has and can have on the world and the future of nutrient recycling.

After the lecture, Jenna presented our version for future of urine recycling and talked about the benefits of drying urine onsite and how this can be done using Sanitation360’s solutions. The day was then concluded with interesting discussions, valuable exchange of information and a promise of future collaborations.

 

Can urine help save food production under crises?

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Field with crops. Two persons in the background.

Prithvi spoke with Agnes Bondesson, SLU Global’s International Scientific Communications Officer about the ongoing food and fertiliser price inflation. Check out the article here: https://internt.slu.se/en/news-originals/2022/3/can-urine-help-save-food-production-under-crises/ or read below –

With the current state in the world, seen to conflicts and climate change, the question about food production in case of short-term or long-term crises has been emphasised. Sweden has a solid food production, but it is a production vulnerable for disruptions of imported products such as fertilisers, diesel, pesticides, seeds and protein feed as well as electricity. One of the main components in conventional plant production is the use of imported fertilisers. When the climate crisis, higher prices and insecurity in import forces us to rethink our ways to use artificial fertilisers there is a need to see other solutions. 

Continue reading Can urine help save food production under crises?

Possibilities for changing to resource recovery in Kampala’s on-site sanitation regime

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We are proud to share a recently published study from the SPANS project related to opportunities for introducing resource recovery innovations in Uganda. In particular we look at the four source-separating on-site sanitation systems – niches. The study was performed in collaboration with Makerere University and RISE. It uses the multi-level perspectives of socio-technical systems to deepen our  understand the existing situation (regime). Through this in-depth analysis of current practices in the Ugandan sanitation sector, we have been able to highlight stress points that could be used to leverage a change to new systems and ways of doing things. Stakeholder specific suggestions for action based on results of this study include:

  • Utilities should pilot innovative solutions in order to demonstrate their advantages and build knowledge.
  • Universities should adapt curricula to break the dominance of sewage systems, including more on-site solutions and Best Available Technology (BAT) approach to selection of systems.
  • Researchers should disseminate knowledge regarding technical advantages of the niches.
  • Niches should focus on possibilities for simplifying organisational structures, streamlining and clarifying roles and responsibilities.
  • Policy makers should adapt policy environments to reflect actual and planned reality of sanitation services, including making public funding available for the on-site regime and its niches.

 

For more information contact Jennifer McConville.

Another interview about urine drying!

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Prithvi was interviewed by Shivangi Agarwal from DownToEarth, the fortnightly magazine focused on politics of environment and development, published in India by the Centre for Science and Environment. They wanted to know what are the benefits of urine recycling and how it can be applied in an Indian context. To find out more, click here.

Immature, but with great potential – Read our review on BSF larvae frass as an organic fertilizer

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Timely with the decision from the EU to adopt a regulation that governs the production and use of insect frass on the EU market ((EU) 2021/1925) we have compiled a review article published in the Journal of Waste Management on state of knowledge of using BSF larvae frass as an organic fertiliser. We have outlined the advantages of using BSF larvae frass as organic fertiliser that has been found so far, discussed possible additional benefits that have not yet been demonstrated, pointed to some of the challenges that could be faced using this fertiliser as well as elucidated the gaps in knowledge that currently exist. If you want to find out more, read here.

Examples of circular sanitation solutions in Europe and Norway

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A seminar was held at the Norwegian water association in Oslo focusing on circular sanitation solutions in Norway. Björn participated and presented his vision for of the sanitation system of the future – being off-grid and fully circular inside a house. The vision is far ahead of the discussions about how we should treat our wastewater today. Most systems needed for a fully circular sanitation system already exist today, though they are still yet to be combined.

At the moment, Norway is facing major investments in the water and wastewater sector with a goal to bring down the environmental pollution. Hamse Kjerstadius from NSVA in presented their system with source separation installed in the city center of Helsingborg. His motivation for this implementation was economy and the environment. There were also several presentations from Norwegian delegates showing that under some specific circumstances source separating systems are economically more feasible when combining local and central treatments. One important factor lifted at the seminar, and that is true for Sweden as well, is that many of the regulations and legislations are unclear when it comes to sanitation that is not based on current conventional system.

The seminar was attended by people from academia, industry, and municipalities, where all were united in the vision of source separating system as the wastewater technology of the future.

Link to program

Alkaline urine dehydration, function and system.

 

Prithvi and Bjorn write a feature article on urine recycling for IWA’s magazine – The Source

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Decentralised sanitation systems based on source separation and urine recycling can contribute much to the existing wastewater regime. Prithvi Simha and Bjorn Vinnerås show how innovative technologies such as urine drying can improve the circularity of sanitation systems. Read the full article here: https://www.thesourcemagazine.org/the-disruptive-opportunity-for-mainstreaming-urine-recycling/

China should focus beyond access to toilets to tap into the full potential of its Rural Toilet Revolution

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Check out our latest article, a collaboration with the Zifu Li group at USTB Beijing that was published in the journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling:

Zhou, X., Simha, P., Perez-Mercado, L. F., Barton, M. A., Lyu, Y., Guo, S., … & Li, Z. (2022). China should focus beyond access to toilets to tap into the full potential of its Rural Toilet Revolution. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 178, 106100.

Abstract: In China, over 47 million toilets in rural areas have been upgraded since the nationwide sanitation program, popularly referred to as the “toilet revolution”, was launched in 2015. However, little is known about the perceptions of rural households regarding these new toilets or the fate of human excreta collected using them. To investigate the other side of the toilet revolution, we surveyed 980 rural households from 22 provinces across China in 2020. We found that most households used an on-site sanitation system (i.e. septic tanks and pit latrines), where urine and feces were mixed and collected (88%), stored in pits or tanks (79%), emptied by the households themselves (60%), applied on farmland as fertilizer (45%), or used for biogas production (5%). Despite the toilet revolution-driven infrastructure upgrade, only 25% of the households were satisfied with their sanitation system and pointed to health risks from issues in the toilet interface and the treatment and reuse of excreta as areas of concern. The majority preferred an “out of sight, out of mind” approach, in which the local government handles excreta without involving the households and without asking them to pay for such management. Meanwhile, 80% supported the idea of local nutrient recycling and believed that human excreta should return to farmland as fertilizer or used for biogas production. Our findings suggest that decision makers in local governments across China must urgently explore ways to upgrade all parts of the sanitation service chain so that rural sanitation can be truly improved to positively influence the progress on other national sustainability goals.

N2Brew Project and Urine Drying featured in Nature!

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Separating urine from the rest of sewage could mitigate some difficult environmental problems, but there are big obstacles to radically re-engineering one of the most basic aspects of life. Check out the article by Chelsea Wald that was featured in Nature magazine yesterday. Prithvi Simha from our group along with other familiar names in the urine diversion world were interviewed by Chelsea who presents a well balanced view of the future of urine recycling and sanitation. Read the article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00338-6