"Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all"
The availability of clean water to everyone is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Despite being essential to a healthy life, not everyone has access to clean water. An important way to ensure water preservation is provided by recycling, treating, and reusing wastewater. This can be achieved through proper wastewater management.
Such measures are important, especially in chemical industries such as in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, textiles, food and beverages, etc. If waste streams from these processing plants would flow back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, it would not just lead to a severe pollution of water bodies but it might also waste nutrients or other recoverable resources. Thus, it is critical that there are limits to waste discharge into nature, as it otherwise turns our planet into an open sewer. Moreover, the necessary stringent regulations need to be accompanied by enforcements and of course the potent technology that enables to practically implement wastewater treatment in an economically and ecologically sustainable way.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations include the need for sustainable management of water and sanitation for all as SDG 6 and define a series of targets to achieve this goal. These include but are not limited to (i) access to safe and affordable drinking water, (ii) access to adequate sanitation, (iii) improve water quality by reducing pollution, (iv) increased water-use efficiency, etc.
By implementing all steps necessary to reach SDG 6, we can ensure some of the most fundamental prerequisites for everyone’s health, dignity and prosperity. In fact, the UN General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to water and santiation and beyond that acknowledged that these factors are essential to the realization of all human rights.
The UN expresses that it’s crucial for businesses, irrespective of how small or big, to take into account strategies and practices that ensure fewer chemical emissions, improving water quality and lowering the percentage of untreated wastewater. Also, the UN states that it are the responsibilities of governments as well as the private and public enterprises to adopt the sustainable development agenda and implement effective measures.
In 2020, developed countries, allocated 42% of their electricity usage in the water sector to wastewater treatment. Considering that globally around 80% of wastewater (including urban and agricultural run-off) remains untreated today, it means that there will be a huge rise in demand for energy and suitable technologies that can be used for all these different types of wastewater streams. (UNESCO-WSSM, 2020).
A picture from the Vindelälven-Juhttátahkka biosphere reserve within the UNESCO:s Biosphere Program close to SpinChem’s office.
Although water management is primarily a sanitation process, its impact is much greater: It promotes healthy communities and a healthy planet. This allows for more productive and prosperous communities, a greater number of livelihood options, and, ultimately, a sustainable development. Hence, proper wastewater management systems can not only reduce negative effects by untreated waters, but also help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as a whole.
As the targets of SDG 6 were laid out to be achieved by 2030, the latest UN report projects that the current rate of progress on achieving water and sanitation will have to quadruple to meet the intended deadline.
We at SpinChem understand these needs and our responsibilities, and believe in transforming the world by providing an innovative and sustainable solution in the simplest, fastest, most stable and resource-efficient way possible. We aim to be a catalyst for the transformation of the global chemical processing industry.
When treating wastewater, SpinChem uses adsorbents or catalysts in a rotating bed reactors (RBR). As one example of our engagement in this is to remove Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and other fluorinated compounds (PFAS, PFOA, etc.) that are found in soil and ground water.
Our RBR technology uses conventional adsorbents designed for the removal of these compounds in leachate or ground water. Such implementation is done with the goal of preventing pollutants from entering the environment and cleaning up what's already in nature.
This is one of many different ways SpinChem is contributing to improve sustainability of the material processing industry. If you would like to know more, reach out to us or follow us on LinkedIn for the latest insights.
Let's collaborate, combine innovative approaches and unlock novel technologies to achieve essential Sustainable Development Goals!
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