Guidelines and manuals
2025 • Eawag Circular Sanitation Toolbox
The Circular Sanitation Toolbox is an open-access portfolio of goal, strategy, and technology guides designed to help practitioners understand and navigate the option space for resource-oriented, decentralized sanitation. The guides are structured as individual sheets, which can serve as stand-alone documents, or can be combined to mix and match options, to help practitioners define the goals they want to achieve, explore the different strategies, and last select appropriate technologies. The guides include case studies from household to neighbourhood-scale implementations to illustrate real-world application and offer inspiration. In this format, the toolbox supports architects, planners, policymakers, engineers, educators, and tradespeople in the early-stage planning of resource-oriented, decentralized sanitation. To reach the broad target audience, the toolbox includes many illustrations. The toolbox is available online, and in print.
Recovered Materials & Products
Heat
Biogas
Energy
Nutrients
Fertilizer
Compost
Digestate
Soil conditioner
Water
Waste Streams
Wastewater
Urine
Greywater
Blackwater
Confirmed countries
Global
What is this tool intended for?
The Circular Sanitation Toolbox is intended to provide clear, accessible guidance for planning and communicating resource-oriented and decentralized sanitation options. It offers practitioners a structured overview of goals, implementation strategies, and proven technologies, enabling them to assess feasible approaches for saving water, recovering nutrients and organics, saving energy, improving urban resilience, and finding off-gid sanitation solutions.
How does this tool work?
The toolbox consists of a booklet and a set of downloadable guides organized into three categories: Goals, Strategies, and Technologies. These guides are designed to be brief, visually structured, and easy to navigate. Users can work through the guides sequentially—from identifying goals to choosing strategies and technologies—or use them independently. The toolbox is browser-based and fully downloadable, requiring no specialized software except a basic PDF reader. The guides can also be printed and used in paper format, depending on the context. A printed version is also available for order on high-quality paper.
Who might use this tool and with which types of stakeholders?
Primary users include architects, urban planners, and designers looking to integrate circular sanitation into development projects. It is also suitable for policymakers drafting or revising sanitation policies; engineers and consultants preparing conceptual sanitation designs; educators teaching sanitation and circular economy; and tradespersons implementing system components. The tool supports communication with clients, communities, utilities, and technology providers.
What stages of a process can this tool support?
The toolbox supports early-stage problem definition (via Goals), system conceptualization and option scoping (via Strategies), and preliminary technical selection (via Technology guides). It is well-suited for pre-feasibility assessments, design dialogues, stakeholder workshops, and awareness-raising within planning and regulatory processes.
What skills, capabilities and resources are required to use this tool?
No specialized software or engineering modelling skills are required. Users need only basic understanding of sanitation concepts and internet access to download materials. The guides are intentionally simplified so that non-engineers—such as planners, architects, and project managers—can use them effectively. No formal training is needed, although familiarity with sanitation planning principles increases usefulness.
Where can this tool be used?
The toolbox is designed for global applicability across urban, peri-urban, and rural settings. It covers contexts ranging from single households to neighbourhood-scale systems and is suitable for areas lacking centralized wastewater systems, regions seeking to complement existing infrastructure, or cities planning climate-resilient sanitation solutions.
Get the Tool
The Circular Sanitation Toolbox introductory booklet and guides are freely available (open access) at the link below:
https://www.eawag.ch/en/wh/toolbox
Learn more
Persistent link to the Toolbox (DOI)
http://doi.org/10.55408/eawag:34671
The Toolbox is accompanied by a database (spreadsheet) with over 40 case studies of circular sanitation initiatives from around the world. The database is accessible at the link below.
https://www.eawag.ch/fileadmin/Domain1/Abteilungen/eng/projekte/nest/toolbox/20250904_CASE_STUDIES_Toolbox_Eawag_2025_01.xlsx
Technologies
Composting
Anaerobic digestion
Struvite precipitation
Ammonia stripping
Constructed wetlands
Vermicomposting
Trickling filters
Membrane bioreactor
Settling tanks
Membrane filters
Granular media filters
UV disinfection
Chlorine disinfection
Ozonation
Advanced oxidation
Aerated bioreactors
Urine storage
Urine pasteurization
Nitrification–distillation
Water tanks
Nitrification on biochar
Heat exchangers
Themes
Design
Capacity building
Technologies
Operation and maintenance
Participatory planning
Goals and strategies