Resource Recovery and Re-use

About 100 million septic tanks and 60 million latrines in urban India contribute to 80% of the pollution of India’s surface waters due to the lack of septage treatment facilities.		An estimated 20-50 million households globally rely on wastewater irrigation for their livelihoods		Domestic and human waste contain high concentrations of nutrients, vital for healthy plant growth
Resource recovery and re-use seeks to shift the focus away from waste that needs disposal, toward creating a valuable resource that can benefit farmers, create jobs and generate funds to improve sanitation.

Business Models for Resource Recovery & Reuse

The Challenge

Humans generate millions of tons of solid and liquid waste every day. This waste is rich in water, nutrients and organic compounds. But, waste is not being managed in a way that supports reuse and permits us to derive value from its  resources – value that could benefit millions of poor farmers and households who continue to struggle with depleted soils, lack of good quality water or access to energy.

Resource recovery and reuse could create livelihood opportunities, enhance food security and contribute to cost recovery in the sanitation chain; however, most waste ends in landfills or pollutes the environment. This is creating problems that usually impact more on poor households than the wealthy because of their dependence on natural resources and the location of their homes.

Solutions Within Reach

Hopeful signs of viable commercial approaches to resource recovery and reuse are emerging around the globe including low-income countries. Many of these new commercial pathways are being charted in the informal sector, delivering innovative approaches for cost-recovery through fecal sludge reuse; wastewater irrigation and aquaculture; co-composting of waste sources; and waste-based energy systems to meet electric, thermal and shaft power loads.

These enterprises or projects are tapping into entrepreneurial initiatives and public-private partnerships and leveraging private capital to help realize commercial value in waste, shifting the focus from treatment for waste disposal to treatment of waste as a resource for reuse.  

We see business based approaches as the most viable way forward to make use of an otherwise lost resource, in a safe and sustainable way. However, it must be managed carefully to ensure that livelihoods are not compromised. For example, where farmers currently use untreated wastewater the introduction of a treatment plant should not result in them losing that resource. The needs of the poor must be balanced with public and environmental health and sanitation sustainability.  

The Objective

Our objective is to find enterprises and business models that have potential for replication, within the same and in different settings and regions, and that can be widely adopted to result in large scale productive and safe use of waste. To achieve this we have to understand their technical, economic, commercial, regulatory, cultural, and institutional conditions, as well as possible environmental and health impacts.

This analysis is the core objective of the new Resource Recovery & Reuse (RRR) research program of the CGIAR on Water, Land & Ecosystems. It is being undertaken bya multi-disciplinary team of entrepreneurs, engineers, business model developers, environmental and health experts, and social scientists operating in low– and middle-income countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

 

Can Human Waste hold the key to increasing agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa? Lee Davelaar, IWMI West Africa The temperature has soared to well over 30 degrees, but Kwasi Asare and Samuel La show no signs of slowing down. With each heavy scoop of their shovels, steam rises from the mound of waste and organic material they are turning. It’s hard work but it is vital to kick-start a scientific process that could hold the key to increasing agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. It is all part of the ‘Fertilizer Pellet Fertilization Project’ (FPFP), an innovative project led by the Resource Recovery & Reuse team at the West Africa office of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). The project is looking to harness the organic potency of human waste and turn it into safe, hygienic fertilizer pellets that are suitable and safe for application by farmers. If successful, this fertilizer will help farmers increase the organic content and nutrient levels of their poor soils, which in turn can increase the water-holding capacity and crop yields of their farming land. As Project Leader, Josiane Nikiema, explains, Samuel and Kwasi’s hard work is an important part in the early phase of the project. “This material being turned by Kwasi and Samuel is a combination of human waste and other natural products such as sawdust and organic food scraps,” says Josiane. “That is why you can see they take precautions with their equipment and their clothes. By constantly turning and resting the materials, we help create a natural heat treatment during the composting process that will assist in removing pathogens while minimizing nutrient losses.” The use of human waste or fecal sludge in agriculture is not a new concept. It has been used effectively in Asia for centuries. However, its use in sub-Saharan Africa is relatively new, and the West Africa office of IWMI has been exploring the potential it could hold for agriculture in the region since 2001.  “Unlike animal manure or farm residue traditionally, the use of human manure in agriculture has been met with some opposition in sub-Saharan Africa,” says Josiane. “However, this was more at the regulatory level than at the farmer’s end. Farmers appreciate the material.” Josiane understands that cultural resistance to the use of human waste in food production is a confounding factor that needs to be addressed. “It’s understandable that there are concerns when dealing with this product. That’s why the project puts significant emphasis on controlling or eliminating the possibility of disease incidence,” she explains. “These options have been researched and verified by IWMI and partners, and now need to be explained to farmers and the authorities to support the safe use of this important nutrient source.” Human waste is an abundant, inexpensive resource and research indicates that, if treated effectively and applied correctly, it can hold numerous benefits for farmers. Pelletizing the materials and mixing it with other nutrients, which is the current objective of the study, will make the product more marketable, easier to handle and easier to transport. Josiane hopes the project will lead to the creation of a rich and valuable product that will have a prolonged shelf life and can be transported over long distances. “This will help immensely in exploring options to make this form of resource recovery profitable for private investors,” says Josiane. The project is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the Grand Challenges Explorations Program.

View e-journal: http://on.ifc.org/handshake5 Handshake: Food & Public-Private Partnerships The new issue of Handshake examines how public-private partnerships (PPPs) in agriculture can help governments feed generations to come. It includes an article on the IWMI led Resource Re-use and Recovery program: From muck to money: reinventing the economics of sanitation View Article - From muck to money: reinventing the economics of sanitation