Slum sanitation with 100% safe reuse of nutrients (urea treatment and thermophillic composting of faecal sludge)

Purpose

SuSan Design upgrades human excreta from pathogenic material to safe agricultural fertilizers and soil improvers in 45 days. Goal is to design and test such a low cost system for farmers.

Activities

SuSan Design has achieved proving that this methodology has enormous potential and no bottle necks in terms of scale up. We have been able to produce a pathogen free volume from the excreta of 2000 people and we know that it can be done with excreta from 200.000 or even 20 million if the day comes that full return of nutrients today wasted are to be brought back to the land and not pollute the ground water, rivers and lakes of Uganda/Africa/Asia.

In cooperation with the National Agricultural Research Organization (Uganda) we have field tested the fertilizer value and it gave very good results of root structure, leaf size and bio mas production. This indicated that the product has value as fertilizer in addition to its soil improvement properties.

Countries of activity

Location of main activity

Objectives

Transform what is today is regarded as pollution or waste into a safe agricultural input that enhances soil quality and farmer income in communities. Set up production of this type of treatment units so SuSan Design and partners can operate them across the country. (starting in Uganda/Kenya)
Today the nutrients from sanitation (pits, septic tank and UDDT volumes) represents 13 x the nutrient value of imported artificial fertilizers. The goal is to create income to sanitation providers so they get motivated by delivering quality services.

Further information

We can “off grid” produce a safe fertilizer from human excreta. Our ability to decentralize production of natural fertilizer and inspire to bring back nutrients that today are considered a “waste” product is our main potential and strategy to success. The unisex urinal tested in Nairobi has also been a great innovative process and I hope we can bring in investors/donors that want to help scale distribution and logistics supporting the product soon. We are on the right track and luckily there are partners that are willing to take risk to solve the sanitation crisis with partners like SuSan Design.

Filter tags

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Composting, vermicomposting (solid waste), composting toilets Faeces or faecal sludge Fertiliser Food security and productive sanitation Private sector, including social enterprises Product design and engineering Resource recovery Specific to one or several countries Sub-Saharan Africa Treatment of faecal sludge Treatment of wastewater or greywater Urine

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