The Marche du Siècle on March 16, 2019, preceded by high school demonstrations during the week, once again brought the issue of global warming to the forefront and with it, the issue of sustainability. The COP24 held in 2018 in Katowice, Poland, underscored the importance of this concept for effectively and rationally addressing the issue of the planet’s resources. The mixed results in terms of commitments from economic and government actors indicated that without the implementation of innovative technologies and corresponding economic models, focused primarily on the recycling of natural resources and waste, no organization or company will be successful. able to make the necessary changes. The protests of the past week have served as a reminder of the urgency of the issue and the global awareness to which they are the subject. The sustainability calendar continues this week with the celebration of World Water Day on March 22. One of the consequences and cause of climate change is the inequitable distribution of natural resources such as water. World Water Day, organized by the United Nations, around the world is there to remind people.
This year’s theme is revealing “leaving no one behind”. As such, the UN recalls that 2.1 billion people do not have drinking water near their homes and that nearly 4 billion people, or about two thirds of the world population, have experienced serious shortages. of water. The climate issue worsens the context since the UN recalls that 700 million people in the world could be displaced due to an aggravation of water scarcity by 2030. The impact of global warming on natural resources water has been shown by several studies. The scarcity of resources is not the only factor limiting people’s access to drinking water, but also pollution and the lack of sanitation of resources already used.
It is for this reason that the WeCo company will invite experts and decision-makers to inspect its unique system of autonomous flush toilets for on-site recycling of black water, on March 22 at the Kilowatt in Vitry-sur-Seine. In fact, in addition to pollution and consumption resulting from industrial and agricultural uses, sanitary systems have a negative impact on the quality of water accessible to populations and the quantity of drinking water necessary for sanitary uses, especially in environments where the infrastructure is deficient. The acute urgency of the migratory crises which are expected to worsen, as well as the constitution in emerging countries of growing megalopolises and not equipped with health networks, indicate that far from being a sub-chapter of the crisis climate and sustainability, the lack of water resources is one of its constituent elements. The United Nations also reiterates that 2.4 billion people do not have access to basic health services, a trend which is set to increase and which covers a wide variety of situations. This is why the United Nations has set access to water and sanitation as a sustainable development goal to be achieved by 2030 (SDG N ° 6).
Cécile Dekeuwer, President and Founder of WeCo, remembers: “This is a finding that I made during my expatriate life. It all started in Korea, where I discovered with admiration high-tech Japanese toilets. ” She adds: “Furthermore, my trips to Australia and Canada have allowed me to see two situations where water resources are either very scarce in the first case and abundant in the second, but with freezing issues. These two divergent situations have led these countries to adopt the same solution for their national parks, i.e. high quality dry toilets. It was there that I realized that ecological sanitation was possible and that I sought to combine sustainable sanitation with new technologies “.
It was as a result of this observation that the solution presented by his company WeCo was born, which has won numerous awards and has enabled it to acquire international visibility very quickly. Especially in China in 2016 where she received the award of excellence for her project from the Chinese national tourism agency and the Bill & amp; Melinda Gates, as Cécile Dekeuwer mentions. On this occasion, she met the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) with which she is developing the technology for treating black water from toilets through biology and electrolysis, which will be on display on March 22 in Vitry sur Seine. “My links with CALTECH have led me to be able to be validated as an expert at AFNOR and ISO on standards related to toilets and more innovative and sustainable sanitation, resulting in the ISO 30500 standard on autonomous and sustainable sanitation … ”, She specifies not without pride.
This visibility has been brought to increase in the context of the many debates around the climate issue and sustainability. After a stint at COP24 in Katowice, Poland in December 2018 ( see the video ), WeCo also exhibited its technology last January at the Carrefour des gestions locales de l’eau (CGLE) in Rennes: see Cécile Dekeuwer’s video thanks to the Monreseaudeau.fr agency . In order to publicize this Cleantech, Cécile Dekeuwer was recently invited to the set of the BFM channel to speak on the set of the Green Reflex show dealing with innovative, ecological and sustainable solutions.
The public invited to Vitry on March 22 for World Water Day will therefore in turn have the opportunity to see and test a concept that provides a solution to one of the planet’s major emergencies.