Circular Sanitation in a Canadian UNESCO Biosphere Region | All infos from my Master's Thesis

Dear all*,
thank you for your curiosity in the subject of sanitation and the restoration of the human nutrient cycle.
In appreciation of your curiosity this page holds videos, presentations and illustrations related to my Master’s Thesis: Circular Sanitation in the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region – A systems approach to pathways to a transition towards waterfree sanitation with resource recovery on a regional scale. ( PDF)

*those who are interested in regenerative living, circular sanitation, human nutrient recycling, systems thinking, systems modelling, systems leadership, global change processes, composting toilets, governance for innovation, resilience thinking…

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Invitation to the Defense of my Master's Thesis: Circular Sanitation in the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region

Dear all*,
thank you for your curiosity in the subject of sanitation and the restoration of the human nutrient cycle.
In appreciation of your curiosity you are cordially invited to attendInvitation to the defense of my Master’s Thesis: Circular Sanitation in the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region – A systems approach to pathways to a transition towards waterfree sanitation with resource recovery on a regional scale. ( PDF)

*those who are interested in regenerative living, circular sanitation, human nutrient recycling, systems thinking, systems modelling, systems leadership, global change processes, composting toilets, governance for innovation, resilience thinking…

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Results from the Evaluation Workshop

The workshop set out to provide orientation for the feasibility of implementing circular sanitation solutions in the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region (MABR). Previous to the workshop I engaged critical actors along the potential human nutrient cycle. Through semi-structured interviews and life-prototyping of soft systems models we identified barriers and pathways to establishing water-free sanitation with resource recovery (circular sanitation) on a regional scale on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. The outcome are the identification of three Starting Points for Action and one Impact Indicator for evaluating the progress.

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Invitation to the EVALUATION WORKSHOP

Your are invited,

if you identify as…

  • one of the 12 stakeholders* who have participated in the interview process

  • someone, who lives or works in the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region (MABR) feeling impacted by the proposed solution of this research

  • someone in the MABR or RDN, who would like to become part of a pilot project on personal, commercial or community scale

  • someone, who is knowledgeable in the technical, legislative, socio-cultural, economic or ecological aspects of the proposed solutions

The goal is to identify Leverage Action aka Starting Points in the System and System Health Indicators that indicate that the system is moving in a healthy direction.


Healthy meaning a long-term positive environmental and social impact. The INTENTION is to offer fruitful conversations and insights to the participants. The basis of the conversation will be a simplified SYSTEMS MODEL that includes the perspectives of the different stakeholders groups*.


Among the workshop participants will be Gord Baird, who is one of Vancouver Island’s experts in composting toilet practices and Anna Calmet, who is the Project Coordinator of the multi-stakeholder project for regional human nutrient circulation ZirkulierBAR in Germany. FYI Gord will offer a workshop on Composting Toilets starting in October. Please, see the details below.

To sign up, please send an email with the filled out CONSENT FORM before September 9, September 15, 2022 to ottilie.keppler@gmail.com – also briefly describe which stakeholder groups* you identify with – Thank you. If you intend to come and would like to let others know publicly, feel free to leave a comment below. Details including the systems model will be sent out a week before the workshop. The number of workshop participants is limited to 20 people, however the results will be made available on this blog and if you would like to stay posted send me an email or leave a comment.

Date & Location:
Thursday, September 22, 2022
ONLINE 9:30–12:30 PST, Vancouver // 18:30–21:30 CET, BERLIN

Throughout the workshop there will be health breaks and refreshers to keep the body and brain flowing, as well as space for conversation with other workshop participants. Please bring the drink of your choice. We will use the online whiteboard MIRO to look at the model together. Please make sure you have a large screen available, as we will be looking at the model together. You can check out Miro here and doodle around.

This link provides more details for those who are new to the research topic: https://www.ottilie.cc/loop-the-poop/researchintroduction

Looking forward to receiving your emails and to seeing you at the workshop!
Warmly, Jenni Ottilie

//////////// Bonus Invitation ////////////

Independent from the Evaluation Workshop I would like to announce that starting in October Gord will be offering an online Workshop Series on Composting Toilet Practices as a chance to deepen your knowledge on the subject. By the end of their course “you will have a solid foundation and great references to build your own system, work with a designer to create a system, or better understand the critical aspects from a health and safety perspective if you are a regulator. More subtly you will learn the benefits and potential pitfalls, tricks and tips in design and maintaining systems.”  — from the workshop description



*STAKEHOLDER GROUPS:

  • experts in the field of water-free sanitation (dry toilets), composting and human resource recovery systems

  • residents of the MABR knowing their community or/and being experienced composting toilet practitioners

  • providers of the current sanitation system

  • municipal decision-makers

  • provincial (and federal) policy-makers

  • community planners and

  • engineers and building contractors

  • coordinators of multi-stakeholder partnerships for human nutrient circulation

  • potential users of recycled fertilizers (farmers)

Exploring pathways for water-free sanitation solutions in the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region

My research, entitled “Exploring pathways for implementing Water-free Sanitation Solutions in the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region (MABR),” sees the current water-based sanitation system as part of a bigger socio-ecological system and aims to identify the dynamics and reasoning behind decisions that led to and sustain the current sanitation system. It also aims to identify barriers for transitioning to another system on different levels of governance. The goal is to inquire wisdom and knowledge about water-free sanitation (e.g. dry separation toilets, possibilities for composting and other resource recovery options etc.) from local residents, political, sociocultural and economic actors and experts in the field of sanitation and water-free sanitation. These different perspectives are gathered and merged into one holistic perspective visualized and communicated in the form of a systems model (causal loop diagram); a map of words/variables and arrows depicting relationships between the variables and the dynamics they create together. See the images below for examples.

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