33rd AGUASAN Workshop: “Circular economy – transforming waste into resources”

The 2017 AGUASAN Workshop will focus on analysing successful and failed approaches for transitioning from linear to circular water and sanitation models.

The workshop takes place from June 26 to 30, 2017 in Spiez, Switzerland.

Circular economy has great potential to drive the Water and Sanitation 2030 Agenda forward because it aligns directly with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.3 of improving water quality and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally and SDG 6.4 of substantially increasing water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensuring sustainable withdrawals.

Key questions and issues: 

• What does the circular economy concept entail?
• Which flows are relevant?
• Which stakeholders need to be involved and how?
• How can demand for recovered products be created?
• In which context do these stakeholders act?
• What are the drivers and barriers influencing the transition towards a circular economy?
• Which circular economy approaches can we learn from for overcoming the identified
• How should change from linear to circular water and sanitation be managed?
• How can health risks be managed?
• How to address public perceptions associated with recycling and reusing of human waste?

Please find the invitation letter, announcement and pre-registration on the website: www.aguasan.ch. Registrations will be accepted until March 19th, 2017.

AGUASAN is an interdisciplinary Swiss Community of Practice (CoP) that brings together a broad range of specialists to promote wider and deeper understanding of key water and sanitation management issues in developing and transition countries. It builds on committed sector professionals from various specialised institutions involved in Swiss development cooperation, humanitarian aid and research. Since 1984, the CoP provides an exemplary, vibrant and most pertinent exchange platform and think-tank serving the water sector, and constitutes an essential link in the innovation and knowledge management strategy of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Besides convening quarterly knowledge sharing events, every year members of the CoP organise an international AGUASAN Workshop in Switzerland

 

The bathroom and kitchen of the future

How will urban households deal with hygiene, wastewater and solid waste in 2050? The solution, according to the combined vision of  Veolia Environnement and the London School of Economics (LSE), lies in “a circular economy based on continuous reuse”.

In a home free of bins, household waste gets sorted by nanoscopic robots, senso-cleaners scan your hands for dirt,  and plants and bacteria self-treat domestic effluents.

Baths require a minimal quantity of  water, ultrasonic vibrations will remove dirt without the need for soap.

All surfaces (wall, floor, roof and window) become self-cleaning thanks to a coating of epicuticular wax crystalloids and a minimal amount of captured rainwater or condensation (no detergent).

Read  more about the home of the future on Veolia’s Imagine 2050 web site.

Source: Veolia unveils bin-less homes vision, edie.net, 20 Nov 2013