Business models for RRR Presented by Miriam Otoo at the 2016 Stockholm World Water Week, in Stockholm, Sweden, on August 31, 2016. Seminar: Opportunities for mainstreaming resource recovery and reuse in developing countries

1. Opportunities for mainstreaming
Resource Recovery and Reuse (RRR)
in developing countries
Business models for RRR
Miriam Otoo and Pay Drechsel
2016 World Water Week, Stockholm
31st August, 2016

3. N and P cycles have to be better managed as we
reached our planetary boundaries
Source: https://longfuture.org/graphics/planetary-boundaries-pizza.jpg

4. • Every year, one third of the world’s food goes to
waste along with the valuable nutrients it
contains.
• If food waste were a nation, it would rank as the
third-largest greenhouse gas emitter after the
US and China.
• 250 km3 of water is used to produce this wasted
food, equivalent to the annual water discharge of
the Volga River.
• The estimated value of global food waste is $1
trillion annually!

5. • RRR is one of the options to reduce
the environmental burden and recover
value from what is otherwise lost.
• The same applies to wastewater
reuse and resource recovery from
fecal sludge.

6. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
• But how do we achieve RRR at scale if we are
still struggling with getting treatment plants to
work?
• Across the developing world, only 10% of waste
water gets treated;
• In India alone, more than 100 m septic tanks
and pit latrines have no treatment plant to
receive the fecal matter.

7. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
NumberofTreatmentPlants
Region
Business (e.g., hotel,
airport)
Hospital
Military
School
Municipal/Township
Community-level
Wastewater and faecal sludge
treatment plants in Ghana
Operational Status
How many of them work ?
Source: Murray & Drechsel, 2011

8. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world

9. Agro-industrial waste - Energy
Wastewater – Water (irrigation,
aquaculture)
MSW, Faecal sludge - Nutrients (ag. production)
http://www.waste-enterprisers.com
www.new-ag.info
Reuse is not new . . .

10. P-Recovery technologies
10
Source: Vienna University of Technology

11. 11

13. Why do we not see more of this
and at scale?
• Most initiatives aimed at RRR have been
characterized in low-income countries by:
- High dependence on subsidies;
- Limited up-scaling potential.
• Fundamental gaps in:
- Business planning and management
strategies, market knowledge;
- Economic aspects and institutional linkages;
• Resulting in more failures than successes.

14. Business in the RRR sector
Customer
Segments
Customer
Relationships
Value
Proposition
Key
Activities
Key
Resources
Key
Partners
Cost
Structure
Revenue Streams
Channels
Social and Environmental BenefitsSocial and Environmental Costs

15. - a subprogram of the CGIAR Research Program
on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)
dedicated to applied research on the safe
recovery of water, nutrients and energy from
domestic and agro-industrial waste streams.

16. We aim to create impact through different lines of action
research, including:
i. developing and testing scalable RRR business models;
ii. assessing and mitigating risks from RRR for public health
and the environment;
iii. supporting public and private entities with innovative
approaches for the safe reuse of wastewater and organic
waste;
iv. improving rural-urban linkages and resource allocations
while minimizing the negative urban footprint on the
peri-urban environment.

17. Institutional linkages and partnership models based on
empirical examples are key to our business analysis

18. Feasibility studies of RRR business
models – 10 locations
Peru
Vietnam
India
Uganda
Ghana
Sri Lanka
Bangladesh• City investment plans for identified
business models in cities (for public
and private entities, donors) and case
studies for business schools.

19. Other current activities
• Lead implementer of business models;
• Advising international finance institutions
in selecting and implementing business
model;
• Policy revisions towards RRR.

20. •Training workshops for existing and new
entrepreneurs, e.g. from cash flow to
business modeling;
•MOOC on RRR business models;
•Lessons feed into business school curricula;
•Business incubation through strategic
partnerships.
From Research to Capacity building
(partners welcome!)

21. • Development of DSS based on feasibility studies
and analysed business models;
• Action research on reuse guidelines and policy
recommendations;
• Compost valorization trials (from faecal sludge to a
safe fertilizer for different crops and soils);
• Monitoring business plan implementation;
• Investment climate studies.
On-going & Future Work

22. RRR Series of Applied Research

23. RRR Books

24. Thank You.
This CGIAR sub-program on RRR works closely with the RUAF Foundation, the World
Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations University (UNU),
and many national and international partners across the globe.