Facing the future at the Source Separation Summit

When you look out across a city, you see the roads, the buildings, the lights. But what you don’t see is the system beneath your feet. The pipes, the sewage, the water being used and disappearing. It is an invisible network that shapes how we live, and how we face the climate challenges ahead.

For us at JETS, it is not just about toilets. It is about rethinking the entire wastewater system, and how this can become a key to building more sustainable cities. That is why we travelled to Helsingborg this spring, to take part in the Source Separation Summit 2025.

– Our main motivation was to take an active part in developing a sustainable concept where wastewater is treated as a resource. We wanted to learn from the many European pilot projects, and to see how JETS can help make source separation more attractive in the future, explains Rune Venaas, Sales & Business Development Director.

A new way of looking at wastewater

Source separation means that different types of wastewater – toilet waste, food waste and greywater – are collected separately. This opens the door to recovering nutrients, producing energy, and reusing water. In short: to extract resources rather than flush them away.

In Helsingborg we saw how this works in practice. In the district of Oceanhamnen, a three-pipe system has been installed. RecoLab manages all source-separated wastewater and food waste from Oceanhamnen, and is responsible for local resource recovery.

• Blackwater (from toilets) is transported via vacuum technology and used for biogas and fertiliser production.
• Food waste is collected and treated together with the blackwater.
• Greywater (from showers and kitchens) is treated with advanced filtration and can be reused, for example in a swimming pool.

– It is no longer waste. It is raw material. The most inspiring part was to see how the residents of Oceanhamnen actually embraced the system. Instead of scepticism, they experienced it as an improvement in their quality of life. It shows that even major system changes can be accepted, and even appreciated, when they make sense. For us this was an important signal: the technology is not only technically feasible. It is socially acceptable, says Venaas.

A shift in urban development

At the Source Separation Summit, several clear trends emerged:

Water as a scarce resource:
The need to reduce consumption and reuse water is growing across Europe.

Decentralised solutions:
Local treatment plants combined with source separation provide flexibility and resilience.

Nutrients as a resource:
Phosphorus, nitrogen and organic matter from toilet waste are valuable raw materials – and essential for future food security.

– It is not a question of either large centralised plants or local ones. We will need both. But source separation and vacuum technology make it possible to create integrated systems that are both sustainable and flexible. It is vital that the public sector, academia and industry continue working together to develop a scalable, attractive solution – while also reducing risk, Venaas points out.

Aslaug Veddegjerde, Marketing Manager at JETS, highlights how the conference widened the perspective from technical details to urban development and society as a whole:

– What we take for granted today, that everything goes into one pipe to one treatment plant, is actually outdated. Today’s infrastructure leaks, treatment plants are not always good enough, and discharges can cause significant environmental problems. We must dare to think differently. And we must recognise that water and sewage are in fact decisive for how the cities of the future are built.

Here, vacuum technology plays a crucial role. It enables both huge reductions in water consumption and an efficient waste transport. It simply lays the foundation for source separation on a large scale.

Building the standards of the future

For JETS, attending the summit was about more than simply being present, it was about shaping the way forward.

– It may take decades before source separation becomes the standard. But it is extremely important that we are there from the start. We can contribute knowledge, technology and experience. We want to be part of new projects, test solutions, and help create new standards. An important next step for source separation is to be acknowledged as a safe, cost-effective and attractive solution – both in Norway and internationally, says Venaas.

– At the same time, we learn a great deal ourselves, and receive feedback that helps us develop solutions that work optimally. This is about showing that we are part of the bigger picture. Not just as a supplier of products, but as an active contributor to shaping the infrastructure of tomorrow, Veddegjerde adds.

The lessons we bring home

The experience from the Source Separation Summit makes it clear: sanitation is not a back-room issue. It is a prerequisite for how we build societies.

– Source separation is not just about technology. It is about people daring to think differently, and it is about politicians being willing to invest, to take the chance on new ways of thinking, and to adopt new solutions. And it is about residents experiencing a better everyday life. It also shows that JETS, with our experience in vacuum toilets and vacuum technology, can play a key role in making this transition possible, concludes Venaas.

– Source separation is not just an idea. It is a necessity. If we want the cities of the future to be sustainable, circular and resilient, then we must start with the invisible system beneath our feet, Veddegjerde sums up,

Next time you pull the flush, ask yourself: What really happens to the water afterwards?

The answer to that question may well hold the key to how we create the cities of the future. And right there, in the invisible, lies JETS’ vital role in tomorrow’s infrastructure, and in how we live our lives.