The Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment asked that the Netherlands’ water management districts work on the collective production of energy and the extraction of raw materials from wastewater, such as phosphorus. The goal was to further close the value chain of raw materials and to contribute to the establishment of a circular economy.
A significant amount of raw materials is lost via wastewater treatment plants. For example, 20% of the total amount of phosphorus consumed in the Netherlands ends up in sewage treatment plants and is not recycled. The 23 water management districts have developed a collective ambition to change this. They established a network for this purpose: the Energy and Raw Materials Factory. The challenge for Twynstra was to assess the progress of the water management districts in this respect and to inform the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment.
Our assessment consisted of a synthesis and an analysis of the activities developed by the Energy and Raw Materials Factory network, in particular in the field of raw material production from wastewater and its expected impact on the market of raw materials. We performed desk research and held an extensive round of interviews. We synthesised and analysed the acquired information, and presented our results at several meetings.
We translated the results into a compact and useful report. Moreover, Twynstra performed an analysis of the current organisation of the Energy and Raw Materials Factory. We drew up recommendations on how to improve the organisation, based on our extensive knowledge of and experience with the optimisation of organisational structures.