Circular Economy 2.0 in practice #7

Case #7: Sanergy – a toilet business addressing sanitation issues in Kenya

Through an integrated value chain, Sanergy provides sanitation facilities which can be installed in rural areas, sets up waste transport and removal services, and turns collected waste (or unused resources!) into useful end-products. 

Social Challenges:

Across the world, one in three people does not have a decent toilet. Lack of proper sanitation facilities causes hygiene risks, affects child and maternal health, and even hinders education and economic development of a country.

Business Model:

Sanergy employs a franchise model in which local entrepreneurs can buy and run Fresh Life Toilets (FLTs) to earn profits from the pay-per-use fee. All prefabricated, high-quality FLTs are designed and manufactured by Sanergy. Local operators are trained to empty the cartridges and collect the waste, which will be converted to organic fertiliser, insect-based animal feed, and renewable energy at a centralized facility. These end-products are sold to farmers at an affordable price. Sanergy plans to roll-out the model in other cities with similar issues.

Circular Economy 2.0 adds the social dimension, to the Circular Economy, by designing poverty out of our system on top of designing waste out:

• The root cause of our environmental challenges is Waste. Waste is designed out in Circular Economy;
• The root cause of our social challenges is Poverty. Poverty and Waste are both designed out in Circular Economy 2.0;

Both Poverty and Waste do not exist in Nature as it exists in our Human world. Both should be designed out.

To achieve this, the Circular Economy 2.0 proposes three additional Principles on top of the current three “Safe Circular Principles”(1), these are the “Just Circular Principles” (2), using The Doughnut Economy wording.

Circular Equity Principle 4

Health is the premise of an equitable society as it affects every aspect of our life. Sanergy effectively contributes to improving the sanitation condition in the most vulnerable communities and sensitizing locals to their own accountability.

Circular Access Principle 5

Using vehicles such as wheelbarrows and handcarts, Sanergy can install the toilets deep in the most rural areas and increase penetration of proper sanitation facilities. Also, new types of jobs created around the value chain improve the livelihoods of local people. 

Circular Ability Principle 6

FLTs are used 50,000 times a day. Since 2011, over 800 jobs were created and 11,000 tons of human waste were collected and converted..

The ultimate objective of the Circular Economy 2.0 is to Optimize Circular Value (#OCV) since we have now embedded Humans within the model (only Humans perceive Value).

For more information about Sanergy: https://www.saner.gy

(1) The current "Safe Circular Principles" suggested by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation are:

• Safe Principle #1 "Preserve and enhance Natural Capital by controlling finite stocks and balancing renewable resource flows";
• Safe Principle #2 "Optimize resource yields by circulating products, components and material at the highest utility at all times in both technical and biological cycles";
• Safe Principle #3 "Foster system effectiveness by revealing and designing out negative externalities";

(2) In Circular Economy 2.0, we add three socially inclusive principle as we recognize Humans as a valuable assets for our future. We embed them into the concept of Circular Economy thanks to a Humansphere. The additional "Just Circular Principles" are:

• Just Principle #4 "Equity makes business sense as services could be design to address the needs of all";
• Just Principle #5 "Developing people's ability promoting any means of exchange is a priority as one should be accessing more with less in a service-based economy";
• Just Principle #6 "Using labour is innovative as in a systemic regenerative model all abundantly available renewable energies should be considered".

This article is brought to you by Joanne (Hsin-Yuan) Lin. More information on our Linked In group: "Circular Economy 2.0 - Addressing Human Needs beyond Material Circularity".

If you have a socially-inclusive Circular Economy project, or you know one great case, please make contact with Joanne (Hsin-Yuan) Lin or Alexandre Lemille.