The Toilet in the Flushlight

From 16/09 to 21/09

The amount of wastewater we produce every day contains enough nutrients to grow 3 carrots, or for bread lovers, enough wheat to make 2.5 baguettes. How can we recover these nutrients and preserve our water resources? What are our alternatives? VaLoo is joining ALTERNATIBA to help you answering these questions.

Come and join in the discussion all week long at Geneva’s Salon des Initiatives, with three key events:

– 09.16 to 09.20, 9am to 5:30pm, Univerité de Genève, Hall principal – The Flushlight exhibition invites you to think with us about circular sanitation and the importance of what we leave behind.

– 09.19, from 9.15am to 7.45pm, Université de Genève, Salle MR 170 – “From toilet to plate”: Apéro & Disscusion on the link between water sanitation and food.

– On 21.09, from 10 am to 6 pm, at Parc des Bastion – Le village des alternatives, where we’ll be showing you some alternatives to current sanitation systems and how to preserve Switzerland’s clean water and nutrient resources.

Breaking news: some very good solutions already exist!

A true water castle!

Did you know? Only 1/3 of our daily water needs require drinking water quality. When it comes to showers, laundry or watering the garden, we could use rainwater.

Switzerland, although considered Europe’s water tower, is facing a fast decline in its water resources, leading to potential shortages in the coming years.

To protect our water resources and ensure sustainable management, we need to close the water and nutrients cycles. Not only to save water, but also to prevent pollutants from entering the natural water cycle.

We will be present at the Swiss Green Economy Symposium from August 27th to 29th, 2024 with our Flushlight exhibition to address these issues and present innovative solutions such as composting toilets, urine-based fertilizers and water recycling throughout Switzerland.

(The Swiss Green Symposium is the most comprehensive conference on economy and sustainability in Switzerland)

“Liquid Gold and Holy Shit” – In den Tiefen unserer Kanalisation schlummert ein Schatz. Wie können wir diesen Schatz bergen und sorgsam mit der Ressource Wasser umgehen?

Dieser Frage geht VaLoo, das Netzwerk für kreislauffähige Sanitärsysteme, am diesjährigen Spezialitätenmarkt in Wädenswil auf den Grund. Diesen Samstag 11. Mai gewähren wir von 9 bis 16 Uhr Einblick in die Aktivitäten unserer Mitglieder ZHAW, Eawag und den waschechten Süsswasserpioniere von Kompotoi. Letztere lassen dich an ihren Schätzen teilhaben, wenn du bereit bist, dir die Hände schmutzig zu machen…

-> 10.30 Uhr Wie können Wasser- und Nährstoffkreisläufe geschlossen werden? – Führung durch das Forschungsprojekt Modo.

Im Anschluss an den Spezialitätenmarkt wird das Flushlight-Exponat vom 13. Mai bis 30. Juni in der Bibliothek Grüental der ZHAW ausgestellt und kann während der Öffnungszeiten besichtigt werden: Mo-Fr 9.00 bis 13.00 Uhr, 14.00 bis 16.00 Uhr.

[Drinking] water – Who does it belong to? How do we deal with it?

As part of the exhibition “Water is a human right”, VaLoo is designing a room in the Kulturmühle Lyss (Marktplatz 6, 3250 Lyss). From 19.04 to 5.05.2024, you can find out how we can protect our drinking water and recover nutrients using resource-oriented sanitation systems.

Vernissage on 19.04.2024 19.00 h

On World Water Day – March 21, 2024 – Eawag-Sandec, Blue Communities Switzerland, the Reformed Church of Zurich and VaLoo invite you to the Water Church in Zurich! We shine the Flushlight on our daily business and what happens to it after flushing. Flush and go was yesterday!

The documentary “Holy Shit” shows what happens to our digested food after it has left our bodies and raises the question of whether it is waste or rather a resource that can be reused. Director Rubén Abruña explores this question in an investigative and entertaining search through 16 cities on 4 continents.

The film will be framed by an introduction by Rubén Abruña and a panel discussion (see flyer). So that all the questions raised by the film and the panel can be discussed until the end, VaLoo invites you to an aperitif in the foyer of the Wasserkirche afterwards! The panel and the thematic aperitif build a bridge from the global issues in the film to Switzerland and show what is already being done and what is still needed for Sch#!$e to help us save the world.

From November 9 to 12, the first “Connect the Networks” congress took place in Zurich. For the first time, the three national networks for resource-based sanitation RAE (France), NetSan (Germany) and VaLoo (Switzerland) met on a large scale. Our exhibition object Flushlight was also there. The participants had the opportunity to leave their thoughts on the inner walls of the green cube. The cube was on display at Eawag for a total of three weeks and could be viewed by around 450 Eawag staff and guests.

VaLoo is exhibiting at Olma from October 12 to 22. The exhibition shows how nutrient and water cycles can be closed in Switzerland.

The efficient use of resources is becoming increasingly important in Switzerland, too, as climate change, water scarcity, eutrophication, urbanization, heat stress, loss of biodiversity, fertilizer shortages and environmentally harmful fertilizer production pose major challenges for society. With the “Carrot-Loo”, VaLoo is therefore drawing attention at Olma to the great potential of circular sanitation systems. For each urination, enough nutrients are excreted to produce three carrots. The Olma appearance is the forerunner of the touring exhibition “Flushlight”, which will start in spring.