Everyday, humans generate millions of tons of waste. But this waste — rich in water, nutrients, energy and organic compounds — isn’t properly managed. Meanwhile, farmers wrestle with water scarcity and depleted soils.
In 2018, researchers at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) published Resource Recovery from Waste, a book examining how Resource Recovery and Reuse (RRR) offers solutions to challenges of waste management and sanitation. The business models proposed include methods for transforming human waste into fertilizer, food waste into biogas and wastewater into irrigation sources.
Now, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs involved with business opportunities in these sectors can enroll in the online course "Resources, Recovery and Reuse (RRR) Entrepreneurship.”
Developed by researchers at IWMI and experts at cewas, this series offers weekly video lectures and worksheets, as well as useful links and reading recommendations. The program, recommended to take eight hours of work per week, will prepare individuals who are beginning businesses related to RRR.
The course was launched in late August during Stockholm World Water Week, and is made available through the Sustainable Sanitation and Water Management Toolbox, an online resource for audiences ranging from decision makers and NGOs to industrial water users and farmers.
In addition to this program, WLE/IWMI researchers are working to implement the model into the curricula of 19 colleges and universities.
This course was developed by researchers at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) / CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE), and business development experts at cewas – coaching entrepreneurs in water and sanitation. Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Contacts
Miriam Otoo
Miriam Otoo is an agricultural economist who served with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) until November 2019, specializing in issues related to economics of waste reuse, business development and entrepreneurship, agricultural markets and productivity in developing countries, under the CGIAR-WLE program.
Pay Drechsel
Pay Drechsel is Strategic Program Leader of the International Water Management Institute for Rural-Urban Linkages, and co-leads WLE's research theme on Sustaining Rural-Urban Linkages.
Lead Partner
International Water Management Institute (IWMI)Related publications
Resource recovery from waste: business models for energy, nutrient and water reuse in low- and middle-income countries
Otoo, Miriam; Drechsel, Pay. (Eds.) 2018. Resource recovery from waste: business models for energy, nutrient and water reuse in low- and middle-income countries. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. 816p.
Business models for fecal sludge management
Rao, Krishna C.; Kvarnstrom, E.; Di Mario, L.; Drechsel, Pay. 2016. Business models for fecal sludge management. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).. 80p. (Resource Recovery and Reuse Series 06) doi: 10.5337/2016.213Business models for a circular economy: linking waste management and sanitation with agriculture
Drechsel, Pay; Otoo, Miriam; Rao, Krishna C.; Hanjra, Munir A. 2018. Business models for a circular economy: linking waste management and sanitation with agriculture. In Otoo, Miriam; Drechsel, Pay (Eds.). Resource recovery from waste: business models for energy, nutrient and water reuse in low- and middle-income countries. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.4-15.
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