Pressure is growing to develop innovative decentralized sanitation systems that protect public health and recover resources. This study evaluates the opportunities for niche technologies focusing on nutrient resource recovery to enter the market in Greater Kampala, Uganda. It applies methodology from sustainability transition studies in a novel way to provide new insights into possibilities for change in the on-site sanitation sector. The study 1) characterizes the existing socio-technical regime for on-site sanitation, 2) identify stress points in the regime and 3) possible advantages for the niches. Assessment of the regime covers technology, epistemic practice, sector values, organisational modes, policy and financing. The niches include urine diversion toilets, on-site resource recovery, and container-based models. The on-site sanitation regime is under performing and the niches all offer advantages for improved service and resource use. However, it will be difficult for the niches to break into a sector in which epistemic practice, organisational modes and financing are heavily dominated by the sewage regime. Recommendations for creating a more open environment for innovation are provided for specific stakeholders. © 2022 The Authors

Rapporten går igenom olika hållbarhetsmål som VA-branschen bör förhålla sig till. Den tar upp VA-organisationers arbete med Svenskt Vattens Hållbarhetsindex (HBI) och hur det förhåller sig till det globala hållbarhetsarbetet via Agenda 2030 och FN:s 17 hållbarhetsmål. HBI täcker in flera av de globala målen, men det finns möjlighet för VA-organisationer att utöka sitt hållbarhetsarbete. Rapporten ger förslag till fördjupat arbete med hållbarhetsfrågor.

The report contains a presentation of different sustainability goals that the water and wastewater sector needs to consider. Water utilities’ work in Sweden with sustainability index (HBI) and its relation to the SDGs is shown. HBI is covering several of the SDGs but the water and wastewater sector can both deepen and broaden its sustainability work; suggestions how are given in the report.

Background: The regular addition of plant-available nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, either as manufactured fertilisers or animal manure, to agricultural soils is needed for global food security. Increased recycling of nutrients back to agriculture from organic waste streams is necessary for increased rural-urban sustainability. Anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge and agricultural wastes is widely applied to stabilize the substrate and also capture its energetic value via biogas production. The liquid phase of anaerobic digestate is a concentrated source of nutrients to which nutrient recovery technologies can be applied. Two such promising technologies that could increase nutrient recycling from e.g. wastewater and thereby contribute to environmental amelioration are struvite precipitation and ammonia stripping. By combining anaerobic digestion and nutrient recovery technologies on the digestate, a treatment process that provides both renewable energy and plant nutrients is achieved. This review will examine the effectiveness of ecotechnologies for the recovery and reuse of nitrogen and phosphorus from anaerobic digestate with the aim of reducing the impact of waste on the environment. Methods: We will search for both academic and grey literature published after 2013. English language searches will be performed in 4 bibliographic databases, and Google Scholar, while searches in 41 specialist websites will be performed in English, Finnish, Polish and Swedish. Eligibility screening will be conducted at two levels: title and abstract and full text. Included eligible studies will be subject to a critical appraisal that will assess external and internal study validity. We will extract information on study characteristics, intervention, comparators, effect modifiers, and measured outcomes. Data synthesis will involve narrative synthesis of each included study of sufficient validity. Quantitative synthesis (i.e. meta-analysis) may be possible in cases where a sufficient number of studies report similar types of outcomes. © 2019 The Author(s).

Like many low-income countries, Uganda is struggling to provide sanitation to its inhabitants. Meeting the Sustainable Development Goal related to sanitation (SDG6) will require major investments in sanitation. This study uses the concept of service regimes to analyze existing sanitation infrastructure and services and their respective costs. The service regimes investigated are the sewage regime and the fecal sludge (FS) regime. The results show that approximately 56% of the fecal flow in Kampala is estimated as ‘safely managed’. The results also show that the annual per capita costs for the sewage regime (USD 186) are more than 13-fold those for the FS regime (USD 14). Additionally, there are large differences in subsidies between the regimes. When allocating public funds, decision-makers are advised to consider (i) number of customers within regimes, (ii) total capital and operating costs of services, (iii) cost allocation between stakeholders, and (iv) infrastructure performance. © 2019, © 2019 The Author(s).

This paper studies decision-making processes in relation to the implementation of innovative source-separating wastewater systems in the development area of Helsingborg called H+, and the non-implementation of the same in Stockholm Royal Seaport. Two analytical perspectives were used to identify critical organisational functions, drivers for change and the anchoring of these decisions within policy: (i) a sustainability transitions framework, and (ii) a policy trickle-down study assessing policy-concept uptake by stakeholders. Critical functions supporting implementation of source-separating systems in H+ were: common vision, leadership, cross-sectoral cooperation, and an innovative approach both within the utility and in the city administration in Helsingborg. In Stockholm, with regard to source-separating wastewater systems, there was a lack of common vision and of cross-sectoral cooperation and leadership. This was also evident in the lack of uptake by stakeholders of the policies for source separation. In Helsingborg, the main drivers for source-separating wastewater systems are increased biogas generation and improved potential for nutrient recycling. In Stockholm, these drivers have not been enough to create change, but the potential for increased heat recovery from greywater at source may be the additional driver necessary for future implementation of source-separating wastewater systems. Comparison of the stalled source-separation policy in Stockholm with a successfully implemented policy in a related field found a key criteria to be the presence of inspired individuals in positions where they had the mandate as well as the ability to create a common vision for change.

Source separation of urine for recycling has been applied in small-scale and decentralized wastewater systems in Sweden for the past 25 years and for blackwater for pollution control even longer. The Swedish experience with source separating nutrient recycling systems is relatively well documented; however, few reports have specifically studied the potential for expansion of this practice. The aim of this study is to fill this knowledge gap by assessing the status of source-separating technologies in Sweden based on transition theory. This study uses a multi-level perspective to determine how ready the Swedish wastewater sector is for transitioning to alternative systems. Given the stability of the existing sewage wastewater regime, it seems unlikely that changes within the regime will lead to a quick and large-scale transition to source separation. Instead, the initiative must come from the niche itself, exploiting institutional cracks in the regime and opportunities from shifting trends in the landscape. If source separation is to be mainstreamed in Sweden, it will need to break into markets within the wastewater jurisdictions. In order to do so, further knowledge needs to be developed that will overcome glitches with immature technologies, uncertain legal conditions/status, investigate potential risks, and clearly define complementary system advantages. This may require the use of new perspectives that focus on holistic sustainable use of resources, including other nutrients than phosphorous, and taking into account global issues such as planetary boundaries and effects from climate change, such as water scarcity. This knowledge can then be used to establish guidelines, norms, and standards, as well as clarify the legislative structures that can support such a transition. There is also a strong need to improve knowledge dissemination regarding best-practices for implementing source-separation technologies and supporting organizational structures. Similarly, support for entrepreneurial activities within the niche needs to increase, not least through strengthening social networks and communication platforms.

A paradigm shift to waste reuse has started in the wastewater sector with many experts calling for greater resource recovery, often facilitated by alternative solutions such as source separation. Source separation has been shown to be advantageous for improving treatment capacity, food security, and efficiency; yet these systems are still immature, considered risky by professionals and scarcely implemented. This study attempts to answer the question of why source separation is still marginalized by examining the Swedish experience with source separated wastewater from the perspective of Technology Innovation Systems (TIS) in order to identify obstacles and policy recommendations. Considering that source-separation is still in a development phase, the study found that source separation works moderately well within the on-site niche and that blackwater systems in general perform better than urine diversion. Knowledge development is found to be the weakest function. A major blocking mechanism is the weakness of interchange between knowledge development and entrepreneurial activity. Policy recommendations include: increased R&D; building networks and communication platforms; and establishing guidelines for technologies, legislation interpretation and organizational models.