C2S: Co-creating Circular Sanitation Systems

Off-grid sanitation systems are gaining interest worldwide. Their advantages include independence from water and energy supply, as well as modularity and flexibility to adapt to changing demographic or ecological conditions.

Furthermore, they enable the integration of source separation of waste streams, allowing the recovery of resources such as irrigation water, energy, and nutrients that can be used for food production. Such circular sanitation systems (CSS) are particularly promising in underserved areas with limited basic infrastructure and scarce water resources, but existing agricultural activity.

Over the past 20 years, many innovative CSS have been developed worldwide. Several of these were brought to South Africa for validation. However, their acceptance among communities and authorities remains limited.

The project "Co-creating Circular Sanitation Systems" (C2S) is a transdisciplinary initiative aimed at understanding how CSS can be co-created for application in low-income peri-urban areas.

A central aspect of the project is co-creation: on one hand, international co-creation for the development of innovative upstream and downstream technologies, bringing together African researchers and technology providers with their counterparts from Switzerland; on the other hand, community-based co-creation for contextualising technology designs using local materials, skills, and capacities on the ground, with researchers embedded in smallholder farming communities.

In parallel, strategies for scaling the solutions are being co-developed, including training packages, technical manuals, policy briefs, and viable service models based on public-private partnerships.

The project brings together an inter- and transdisciplinary team of researchers, civil society organisations, technology providers, and authorities from South Africa, Mozambique, and Switzerland.