part of World Toilet Day 2025
Start readingThe Resource Recovery Toolbox, a new digital platform that centralizes decision-support tools for resource recovery from sanitation and organic waste systems, is now live and publicly available. The Toolbox was designed by SEI in collaboration with partners to support practitioners, planners, and researchers working in multiple sectors and diverse global contexts.
The Resource Recovery Toolbox was developed by SEI in collaboration with the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA), Dotwerkstatt and Baobab Tech.
Practitioners in urban areas are increasingly seeking to recover water, nutrients, and energy from wastewater and other organic waste streams. However, many struggle with finding the right tools and information to plan and implement resource recovery initiatives effectively. The Resource Recovery Toolbox aims to fill this gap.
By curating a wide array of datasets, case studies, models, design guidelines and software, the Toolbox enables users to discover, compare and apply the most relevant tools for the implementation of circular sanitation and waste management solutions. The platform’s search functions, structured taxonomy, and AI-powered chat interface help make navigating this growing body of knowledge on resource recovery both intuitive and accessible.
There is no shortage of tools out there, but they are often scattered, inaccessible, or poorly understood. The Toolbox brings them together in one place and makes them easy to find and use.
Daniel Ddiba, SEI Research Fellow and lead developer of the platform
The Toolbox supports users across sectors such as sanitation, water, waste, energy and agriculture by organizing tools around practical needs and thematic areas. Professionals can use the Toolbox to guide decision-making from design to implementation for uses such as planning decentralized wastewater reuse systems, nutrient recovery strategies, or resource-focused climate adaptation projects.
Many valuable tools for resource recovery have been developed by academic institutions and international development agencies, but they often remain underused due to limited visibility or lack of contextual guidance. By centralizing these tools and linking them to real-world applications, the Toolbox increases their impact and usability.
The platform has also been developed in consultation with stakeholders across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America to ensure it responds to diverse regional and local needs. New contributions to the platform from users and partners will also continue to expand the Toolbox and its reach.
Our goal is to make the Toolbox a living platform that adapts with the field, encourages collaboration, and becomes part of the infrastructure supporting circular sanitation transitions.
Daniel Ddiba
The Resource Recovery Toolbox is open access and free to use, thanks to funding from the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas). Users are invited to explore the platform, contribute tools and case studies, and share feedback to improve its relevance and reach.
Visit the Resource Recovery Toolbox website at the link below to explore the tool and start using it in your projects.
Project / An online platform to facilitate accessibility of tools used for planning and implementing resource recovery from organic waste streams.
Tool / The Resource Recovery Toolbox is an online platform that enhances planning and implementation of resource recovery from sanitation and organic waste streams.
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