LIFE Kaumera2Market: Solutions to increase upscaling and replication of LIFE Waste2kaumera and other projects on wastewater resource recovery

Introduction

Municipal sewage is treated at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and within this sewage, there are valuable materials. From 2017 to 2023, the Project LIFE Waste2Kaumera focused on recovering one of these valuable materials called Kaumera, which is a type of biopolymer. Although the project was successful in its technological and environmental goals, it faced challenges in making it economically viable for further use.

Project Goals

The LIFE Kaumera2Market project aims to enhance replication and has two main goals:

1. Overcoming Economic Barriers
   Firstly, to overcome the barriers and challenges faced in making Kaumera economically viable. These barriers include:

   • Meeting regulations
   • Ensuring product quality
   • Reaching the market
   • Managing collaborations between public and private entities
     Overcoming these challenges is crucial for the long-term success of using Kaumera.

2. Transferring Best Practices
   Secondly, to transfer LIFE Kaumera2Market best practices to other LIFE and EU projects. LIFE Kaumera2Market demonstrates effective solutions and strategies to overcome these barriers, becoming an important example and blueprint for other initiatives (past, present, future) focused on resource recovery at WWTPs, in both the Netherlands and other EU member states.

Project Activities

Project activities encompass the following:

• Development of a governance model based on public-private cooperation
• Setup of a cooperative involving six waterboards (including two project partners and four new ones)
• Establishment of a startup company through cooperation between the cooperative and private company RHDHV

The cooperation will be responsible for planning the construction of a new Kaumera production plant in the Netherlands and providing replicable models and approaches to stimulate upscaling and replication of other EU projects focused on resource recovery at WWTPs.

Business Development

The start-up company will:

• Apply for a CE-mark for Kaumera's use as a biostimulant
• Develop new sales routes for Kaumera
• Build a business case for replication of LIFE Waste2Kaumera in the EU

All project activities also aim to create additional jobs.