BENGALURU: A project to promote business opportunities from human feces might seem odd and uninviting but this is what an organisation that develops innovative social enterprises, Enviu is looking at. It has partnered with two city based firms.
About three months ago, Enviu received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and started a program called SaniNation to develop businesses in the specific field of faecal sludge management (FSM).
Tide Technocrats and DEWATS Dissemination Society (CDD) were the two companies chosen under the programme.
The former has been in the waste management business for 22 years. N Sampath Kumar, MD, Tide Technocrats, says they have been doing work in feacal sludge management for the past 2 years and are still trying to understand how it works. "We are trying to develop certain technologies. As of now I see two possible revenue models - one is from converting the sludge into products such as compost, bio-gas and the other is usage of water derived from the feacal sludge," he says.
DEWATS Dissemination Society (CDD) is a consortium of organizations and individuals that develops and promotes decentralized basic needs services such as wastewater treatment, solid waste management, sanitation infrastructure. In 2015, it started a faecal sludge treatment plant in Devanahalli. Before this, the organization carried out two surveys in Hassan, Mysuru based on faecal sludge management. Besides the two firms, Enviu is also in talks with a companies in Pune, Hyderabad and Warangal.
Dylan D'Costa, director (India) for SaniNation says that they are looking at tying up with "five business units" over the course of three years. Dylan also pointed out that profits depended on each individual business model. A firm might get as much as 1 million liters of feacel sludge per day. Based on this one can produce say 10 tonnes of reusable fuel, he says. The cost would also be competitive and would vary according to various parameter, adds D'Costa. "In three years we are looking to build at least three viable business. We want to make make people see that money can be made from faecal sludge," he says. Besides, this would also help in more hygienic and scientific treatment of fecal sludge in the country, he adds.