Sanitation and Wastewater Atlas of Africa

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Lessons

Impacts

• Sourcing quality waste is often challenging, though abundant waste is generated.

• Treating faecal sludge prevents it from being released untreated into the environment. • Faecal sludge can be processed simultaneously with the organic fraction of solid waste, thus enabling two key challenges to be addressed.

Environmental

• Validation and monitoring of faecal sludge-based compost quality by recognized public authorities is essential if it is to be accepted and adopted. • Open communication, awareness-raising and dissemination of reliable information are essential at all times to manage expectations. • Innovative funding mechanisms are required to bridge the gap for financing faecal sludge treatment plants for recycling. • Availability of competing products (e.g. inorganic fertilizers or electricity) at subsidized rates will lower demand in faecal sludge-based products. • Marketing of faecal sludge compost only makes sense in locations that are close to agricultural areas. Long transportation will render the business unsustainable. • The operation and maintenance of the faecal sludge treatment plant should balance competing demands such as manual labour (low electricity consumption) and process duration (accelerated by mechanization). • Demand for soil conditioning to enhance productivity is high in sub- Saharan Africa. • Ownership and partnership terms should grant the private entity the time needed to operate and recover invested moneys.

• Faecal sludge treatment plant management creates jobs. • Higher yields of products can be generated. • Potential to improve nutrition and livelihoods. • A safe environment is conducive to tourism.

Social

• Profits are made from sales of compost as well as savings from conventional waste management practices. Strong off-take agreements will help attract more interest from the private sector. • Faecal sludge recycling can benefit from additional externalities such as reduced carbon footprint, improved freshwater quality and reduced fertilizer use.

Profitability/ cost recovery

• The model is highly impacted by the location. Innovative mechanisms must cater for case-by-case variations. • Low-cost treatment technologies may also suffer from performance variations with the feedstock. • Potential for replicability is tied to construction of adequate infrastructure, which is the responsibility of Governments. • Private-sector investments in faecal sludge treatment and reuse sector are not yet common in Africa. However, this could change if the current limiting factors are addressed.

Innovation

Scalability – replicability

• Favourable policy support is essential to encourage recycling of faecal sludge for energy or compost.

• The challenge is to ensure enforcement in areas outside conventional schemes where restrictions are not/cannot be enforced.

Policy

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SANITATION AND WASTEWATER ATLAS OF AFRICA