Team

«I'm passionate about connecting everyone and inviting them to shape tomorrow's solutions together.»

Louise Carpentier manages the VaLoo office. She became interested in circular sanitation systems through her studies in soil and water management with a focus on sustainable agriculture. Now, at VaLoo, she wants to connect housing and agriculture through sustainable resource management. Thanks to her experience in research, consulting, volunteer work and project management, she is moving the association forward by strengthening collaborative processes – because the path from linear to circular systems can only be taken together.

«I produce the fertilizer I need to grow my own vegetables. I would love to live in a world where everyone can do the same!»

When Kayla became active in a housing cooperative in Geneva, her learning curve about wastewater problems and sustainable solutions to overcome them was steep. Kayla did her master’s project on a worm filter for wastewater treatment of for the housing cooperative Equilibre (2017) and became a founding member of aneco (2020). Aneco is an association dedicated to recovering the resources present in our wastewater through decentralized and sustainable treatment. Kayla played a key role in organizing VaLoo’s first General Assembly and is excited about the momentum generated by the co-creative power of its members. She strongly believes in VaLoo’s mission to enable innovative and sustainable solutions for circular sanitation systems in Switzerland.

«The sanitation revolution will be slow, but permanent!»

When he was a kid building cabins in the forest, he always wanted to build the toilets first. Later, in 2015, after several years at Eawag, he founded Vuna, which builds circular sanitation systems in Switzerland and beyond. Vuna has licensed Aurin, the world’s first fertilizer made from urine. Bastian finds it exciting to be one of 44 people who founded VaLoo. As sanitation systems grow, VaLoo gives some structure and visibility to this diverse group of players. Bastian wants to strengthen the network between professionals, the construction industry, the authorities, in the different language regions of Switzerland and across borders.

«I want to help VaLoo become a nationwide network, without forgetting any stakeholder.»

When she heard about pollution and forest dieback in elementary school, she started inventing a machine that sucks in bad air, compresses it and releases good air. Later, wastewater treatment and circular economy became her favorite topics of her work, her dissertation at Eawag and her involvement as a member of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSaNa) core group since 2010. Today, direct air capture is a commercial technology available worldwide. Dorothee herself is still working on concepts to reduce wastewater and close nutrient cycles. Dorothee wants to support VaLoo in becoming a nationwide network, without forgetting any stakeholder.

«Ich möchte ressourcenorientierte Sanitärsysteme in die bestehende Infrastruktur in der Schweiz integrieren.»

«Even small-scale sanitation requires big visions.»

At the end of his studies, Philippe was given the opportunity to do a piece of work on urban sanitation planning in a city in Togo. There was no sewerage network there. The passion for decentralized sanitation has not left him, from the development context to humanitarian aid. The different realities were striking: institutional barriers, the level of commitment of the authorities, and the reality of a city where hundreds of micro-treatment plants stand side by side. For Philippe, it’s clear: governance matters! He sees VaLoo as a bunch of enthusiastic and committed people ready to take circular wastewater management to a new level.

«My vision is to be able to reuse the resources from the toilet as nutrients after treatment, and that we all find that normal!»

In 2010, Jonas helped plant over 100 trees in a permaculture project, which were fertilized with the best compost from the toilet. That day, he decided to commit to contributing to putting those nutrients back into the loop. Kompotoi has built more than 700 mobile composting toilets, which operate year-round or during the summer. Ever since he started Kompotoi in 2012, he has been thinking about forming an association with other organizations. Now Jonas is more than happy that we could found such a broad-based association.

«The composition of the board with university professors, researchers and entrepreneurs fascinates me.»

Reto’s career in finance has allowed him to travel internationally and learn a lot about different cultures and approaches to life. His strength is to combine long-term visions with short-term actions. Having been involved in several circular economy companies as the founder of Consulting for Impact, he found VaLoo’s mission extremely important and wanted to contribute. He was also intrigued by the composition of the board with university professors, researchers and entrepreneurs. Reto’s goal is to make the approach of circular sanitation systems better known in Swiss economic communities.

"Changing the Swiss model is the best way to make a difference worldwide"

With the – modest – goal of reducing global inequalities, Ivo focusses on human physiological needs. Since few people die from a lack of air to breathe, but millions die from a lack of safe drinking water, he turned his attention to this area. He worked with NGOs in Bangladesh and Haiti but realized that people wanted to copy the Western/Swiss model. So he decided to dedicate himself to further developing precisely this model.

"Swiss privileges come with a responsibility. Let’s start the sanitary revolution in our backyards!"

Michel is an environmental engineer with a passion for toilets of all shapes and colors. Before cou-founding ogmo, during his time at the Swiss Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), his research focus was on on-site urine treatment. Beside VaLoo, Michel volunteers in technical expert committees at DWA and is a board member of NetSan e.V. He is a guest lecturer at the Bauhaus University Weimar.