PRESS RELEASE, 25 September 2014:
Waste water is just the beginning
Turning waste water into three valuable products: nutrient rich irrigation water, high quality
compost and fish. That’s the plan of Priska Prasetya (Indonesia) and Jelmer van Veen (the
Netherlands), which made them the winners of the International Climate Adaptation
Business Challenge.
Their idea is to use domestic household waste water to irrigate coffee plantations in Vietnam.
First they separate the solid excrements and turn them into fertilizers. After that, the remaining
fluids are filtered in a constructed wetland filled with several soil layers. At last they use fish to
eat the microplancton that grow on remaining nutrients. The clean water is used as irrigation
water for coffee plantations and the fish will be sold on local markets.
Priska and Jelmer receive € 25.000,- for implementing their business plan. The International
Climate Adaptation Business Challenge is a competition that stimulates business ideas for
climate change adaptation products and services. Adapting to climate change creates new
challenges and offers opportunities for new businesses and innovative entrepreneurs.
Business ideas from 28 different countries were submitted in this open competition, varying
from ideas from Kenya, Bangladesh and the Netherlands. After a selection, seven innovative
business ideas for new adaptation products and services were selected. Today, the winner of the
business challenge was announced during Deltas in Times of Climate Change II, the
international conference about climate adaptation in Rotterdam.
The International Climate Adaptation Business Challenge was organized by the Dutch research
programme Knowledge for Climate and EU climate innovation initiative Climate-KIC.
Artist impression van AQGRI+, het plan van Priska Prasetya en Jelmer van Veen
Photographer: Floor Fortunati
Winners of the International Climate Adaptation Business Challenge (left to right): First prize
winners: Jelmer van Veen & Priska Prasetya; second prize: Lodewijk Stuyt; third prize: Marta
Faneca Sànchez & Eric Lammertsma; fourth prize: Melanie Davis.
MORE INFORMATION, NOT FOR PUBLICATION:
Sonja Döpp, Knowledge for Climate
T + 31 (0) 6 31900996