Welcome to Planet Vuna
How the VUNA project with the city of Durban in South Africa became Vuna LLC
Vuna means “harvest” in isiZulu, the language of the Zulu people. VUNA originated as a research project which endeavoured to find a suitable use for the urine collected in dry toilets in the city of Durban, South Africa. VUNA further developed between Eawag, eThekwini Municipality (greater Durban) and additional partner organisations. The technology to recover nutrients – or rather “harvest” them – has been well established. In 2016, the company Vuna Ltd was founded based on the outcomes of this research project.
Team
Bastian has worked on decentralised water and wastewater treatment for over two decades. He coordinated the VUNA Project in South Africa and Switzerland. Before that, he led the STUN Project in Nepal. Bastian graduated as an environmental engineer from EPFL and is passionate about practical work. He has been the head of Vuna Ltd since 2016.
Nadège enjoys working between the lab and construction sites. As an Environmental Engineer from ETHZ, she participated in the Autarky Toilet Project and later specialised in small-scale wastewater treatment technologies in India. At Vuna, she developed the mobile urine treatment unit: the UrinExpress. She now manages various urine treatment projects as well as the industrialisation of the Vuna technology.
Kai is the scientific expert with sound knowledge on wastewater streams and process technology. He has been working on urine treatment for two decades, since pioneering the topic at Eawag as his PhD research project. For several years, he also deepened his research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Kai is the Scientific Advisor of Vuna Ltd.
Lukas worked for Eawag on international projects for a long time, particularly in the area of planning decentralised solutions for urban sanitation. As an environmental engineer and co-author of the Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies, he is well versed in the world of possibilities in the wastewater sector. At Vuna, Lukas plans and oversees all types of alternative toilet and water treatment systems.
Basile completed his MSc in Environmental Engineering at EPFL. During his Master’s thesis and civilian service at Sandec (Eawag), he gained his first experience with decentralised water treatment and worked in the field in Nepal for several months. At Vuna, he now plans and builds alternative (waste) water systems. He is also developing his very own water utopia with friends in the rustic Lötschental and promotes the integration of environmental variables into residential habitats, preferably on a communal basis, to close the water- and nutrient-cycles.
Chiara is interested in closing material cycles and in wastewater treatment that allows the reuse of greywater. At Vuna, she participates in the planning of water treatment systems. She completed an MSc at ETHZ, specialising in environmental technologies.
Tabea completed her MSc in Environment and Natural Resources at the ZHAW and was able to gain experience with constructed wetlands and greywater reuse in an urban setting through her master’s thesis.
She is interested in efficient resource management, including the closing of water- and nutrient-cycles. At Vuna, Tabea is involved with the planning of alternative water treatment systems as well as logistics.
Helena is currently completing her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering at the ZHAW. Under the overarching theme of decentralised water treatment, she is working on wastewater treatment using planted biofilters for her bachelor’s thesis. Previously, she worked on the use of rainwater from green roofs. At Vuna, she supports both the administration and various projects.
With a diploma in Business Innovation and as a certified multimedia designer, Luzius controls the interface between the economic development of Vuna Ltd, customer relations, and marketing. He works as a consultant in strategy and operations.
Former employees
Philippe Reymond, Carina Doll, Iris Hansen, Nadine Antenen, Andreas Keller, Maximilian Grau, Viviane Furrer, Evelin Vogler, Cécile Bettex, Mariline Attenhofer, Ariane Schertenleib, Lena Xue, Till-Baptiste Römmelt
Partner companies
Clients
