About us

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.

Our team

Bastian Etter

Bastian Etter

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 de Chambrier

Nadège de Chambrier

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 Udert

Kai Udert

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 Ulrich

Lukas Ulrich

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 Weber

Basile Weber

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 Lauber

Chiara Lauber

Chiara is interested in closing material cycles and developing wastewater systems that minimize environmental impact and enable the reuse of greywater. At Vuna, she designs water treatment systems. She holds an MSc in Environmental Engineering with a specialization in Environmental Technology from ETH Zurich.

Tabea Vischer

Tabea Vischer

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.
Efficient resource management is close to her heart, including closing water and nutrient cycles. At Vuna, Tabea plans alternative water treatment systems and helps with logistics.

Helena Horber

Helena Horber

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.

Luzius Etter

Luzius Etter

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.

Pavel Varbanets

Pavel Varbanets

With a PhD in international relations, Pavel Varbanets at Vuna is involved in the design and development of the company's website and online shop, the integration of third-party IT services, the promotion of goods and services on the Internet, Internet advertising and other IT-related projects.

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

Some of our clients

Latest news

25.02.2025

Urine-based fertilisers in organic farming?

Listen to the entire podcast with Olivier Chaloche, Fabien Esculier and Florent Brun on France Culture.

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07.02.2025

Our congratulations!

We congratulate Helena Horber on completing her BSc at the ZHAW Institute of Environment and Natural Resources IUNR.

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04.11.2024

For World Toilet Day on 19.11.

Seminar ‘Closing water cycles - approaches for building practice’. Finissage ‘Flushlight’ & film screening ‘Holy Shit’ at the Stadtgärtnerei Zurich.

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