Wastewater, sewage plant, sewage sludge, does that mean anything to you? I mean, are you okay to talk about it?
In general, we only meet these elements because of their smell that is mostly consider disgusting, at the random crossing of a station on our way, or because the school had the wonderful idea of making a class outing that makes all the children laugh, in the West at least.
Currently, much of the wastewater is discharged into the nature without being collected or treated, however we are discovering that it can be a wonderful source of raw materials, energy and simply clean water.
Nutrients such as phosphorus, biogas production, electricity... So many essential elements - or almost - that can be produced in wastewater treatment plants !
In the Netherlands the "Energie- en Grondstoffenfabriek", literally "Energy and raw materials factory network", was created by the water authorities to work collectively on this energy production and raw material extraction, And they can boast of being the first to succeed in extracting the cellulose contained in toilet paper to recycle it! AH, here we are, finally getting into the matter. To celebrate this small step forward, they invited the studio of the designer Nienke Hoogvliet to create a series of objects that show how this recycled material can be integrated into our homes: thus was born a collection named "Watterschatten", or "Water Treasures", including a table, lights and bowls, which you can see on the pictures.
This kind of things regain us a bit of prestige, all those taboo things coming from us we have to deal with every day, it finally look useful! Striking news that we are part of this ecosystem isn't it!
