To mark World Water Day (22 March), the EU-funded SwithMed Programme will lead a session on “Wastewater and the Circular Economy” during a workshop on “Youth Innovating with Wastewater for a Sustainable Mediterranean” organised in Marseille, France by the Centre for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) on 21 and 22 March.  

The SwitchMed session will explore the role of wastewater in the circular economy and how some green entrepreneurs are considering ways to incorporate this resource – and other underutilised water resources – into their business plans.  Interventions from two green entrepreneurs being currently incubated in the context of the SwitchMed Programme will provide practical lessons about the challenges they face in using wastewater safely in their businesses.

Lina Al-Kurdi of Jordan will describe her green roof enterprise and how she is making the most of scarce water resources for irrigation, and Abdelkrim Bessadok of Tunisia will share his perspectives on the opportunities for using treated wastewater to support high-quality grazing crops.

Training materials used in SwitchMed’s capacity building activities for green entrepreneurs, which have already benefitted more than 1,500 individuals in the Mediterranean, will be shared with the participants.

The SwitchMed sustainable consumption and production programme aims to promote a switch by the Mediterranean economies towards sustainable consumption and production patterns and green economy, including low-emission development, through demonstration and dissemination of methods that improve resource and energy efficiency. It also seeks to minimise the environmental impacts associated with the life cycle of products and services and, where possible, to promote renewable energy. 

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Press release 

SwitchMed website