{"id":1190,"date":"2024-01-25T08:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T15:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.autodesk.com\/autodesk-foundation\/?p=1190"},"modified":"2024-01-23T18:50:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T01:50:05","slug":"our-investment-in-safisana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.autodesk.com\/autodesk-foundation\/2024\/01\/25\/our-investment-in-safisana\/","title":{"rendered":"Our investment in Safisana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Upcycling waste for good<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Approximately 3.6 billion people<\/a> around the world\u2014nearly 780 million<\/a> of whom live in the African continent\u2014lack access to adequate sanitation services. Despite rapid population growth and urbanization, limited investment<\/a> has been made to ensure adequate sanitation, leading to public health risks and environmental contamination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gap of investment in sanitation infrastructure is particularly evident in Ghana, one of Africa\u2019s fastest-growing economies, where more than half of residents now live in cities. Although waste management services are expanding, a sizable amount of fecal waste in Ghana\u2019s two largest cities\u2014Accra and Kumasi\u2014is left untreated and ends up contaminating<\/a> nearby land and water bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The externalities of unmanaged waste<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Inadequate waste management poses severe risks<\/a> to public health and the environment. Open dumping, burning of waste, and insufficient treatment processes release pollutants and toxins into the air, causing respiratory and neurological diseases. Contamination from dumping waste into waterways can lead to infectious and vector-borne disease transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When left untreated, decomposing organic waste in landfills also emits significant volumes of methane<\/a> (CH4<\/sub>) and carbon dioxide (CO2<\/sub>), exacerbating global warming and climate change. And methane produced by fecal waste in non-sewered sanitation systems such as pit latrines and septic systems contributes nearly 5%<\/a> of manmade methane emissions globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Bank estimates<\/a> that an investment of roughly $114 billion annually\u2014around three times historic financing trends\u2014will be needed to achieve the United Nations\u2019 sixth sustainable development goal<\/a>, to ensure access to water and sanitation for all by 2030. In the context of limited municipal budgets and low-income customer segments, new technologies or approaches that reduce the upfront capital expenditures and the costs of operating treatment and disposal facilities are critical for addressing the challenges of unmanaged waste, which will only worsen as cities in Africa continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Safisana?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Autodesk Foundation is pleased to welcome Safisana<\/a> to our Health & Resilience<\/a> portfolio. Safisana is a nonprofit committed to improving climate resilience and solving waste, sanitation, and energy-related issues in urban and peri-urban communities in Africa\u2019s rapidly growing economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safisana\u2019s circular sanitation and waste management system focuses on the treatment and recycling of organic and fecal waste through recovery of valuable resources such as energy and nutrients, thus improving social, economic, and environmental living conditions of communities in low-income countries that face public health, climate, and food security challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safisana\u2019s innovative recycling plant effectively treats organic and fecal waste and converts these waste streams, which would otherwise be dumped untreated, into valuable outputs: biogas, electricity, and organic fertilizer. Through its localized, circular solution for waste treatment, Safisana\u2019s waste-to-value model allows the organization to cover operating costs while increasing its impact beyond waste management, to include improved agricultural productivity and renewable energy access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n