The ANCHOR project documents real-world experiences with source-separating urban wastewater systems across five demo sites in the North Sea region. During the ANCHOR lunch talk on November 3, 2025, the focus shifted from technology to people: how users, operators, and end users perceive and experience these systems in practice.
Understanding User Perceptions
Henk-Jan van Alphen (KWR) opened the session by highlighting that source-separating wastewater systems engage a much broader group of users than conventional systems. These include household residents, system designers, operators, and even end users of recovered products such as fertilizers. User perception is shaped not only by direct experience, but also by beliefs, attitudes, and how people process information.
KWR studied user perceptions in ANCHOR demo sites across two research projects. The results showed no clear relationship between age, gender, or education level and satisfaction with vacuum toilets. Instead, satisfaction was linked to user typologies. Four customer types were identified: Aware and Committed, Down-to-Earth and Confident, Egalitarian and Solidarity-Oriented, and Quality and Health Concerned. In the vacuum toilet study, 59% of respondents belonged to the Aware and Committed group, which helps explain the overall high satisfaction levels.
Overall, the studies showed that residents are generally satisfied with their vacuum toilets, that initial enthusiasm tends to normalize over time, and that while awareness and experimentation help early on, long-term performance ultimately determines acceptance. Living satisfaction in the neighbourhoods remained high, and demographics played only a minor role.
Operators as Key Knowledge Holders
Femke de Boer (KWR) presented insights from her MSc research into the belief systems of operators working with integrated decentralized wastewater systems. Operators are often an under-researched stakeholder group, yet their daily experiences are crucial for understanding system performance and improvement needs.
Operators identified several challenges, including limited safeguards compared to conventional systems, inefficiencies due to small scale, uncertainties related to upscaling, skill and knowledge gaps, and misalignment between legislation and practice. At the same time, they proposed concrete improvements, such as strengthening practical knowledge at management level, continued cooperation between demo sites, enhanced hands-on training for new operators, and exploring hybrid water management approaches.
Opinions differed on whether vacuum systems should be rapidly upscaled. Some operators felt that scaling up is necessary to unlock system potential, while others argued that existing issues at smaller scale must be resolved first. A key conclusion was that operators’ views should not be seen as barriers, but as valuable insights into uncertainties, risks, and possible solutions.
Daily Practice: An Operator’s Perspective
These themes were illustrated through an interview with Lars Horrdin (NSVA), operator of the vacuum system in Oceanhamnen 1 in Helsingborg. He explained that vacuum systems demand quicker response times than conventional systems, as disruptions affect users immediately and may require temporarily shutting down toilets during maintenance. This increases the need for communication with residents.
At the same time, vacuum systems reduce the risk of severe property damage during blockages. Lars emphasized that despite the challenges, he is motivated to work with these systems because they offer opportunities for learning and innovation. Automation, such as motor valves and pressure sensors, already plays an important role in faster fault detection and night-time leak searching. Building systems with redundancy and ease of maintenance was highlighted as essential.
From Wastewater to Fertilizer: User Experiences Downstream
The lunch talk also addressed perceptions further along the value chain. Hamse Kjerstadius (NSVA) shared experiences from Helsingborg with fertilizer products produced at RecoLab, including struvite and ammonium sulphate. These products are clean, highly concentrated, and already recognized under EU fertilizer regulations, enabling end-of-waste classification.
Field trials with farmers over three years showed that pelletized fertilizers performed comparably to conventional chemical fertilizers, although improvements are still needed. Farmers were willing to use the products but not pay a premium. RecoLab therefore targets niche markets such as municipal parks, private parks, and hydroponics, where users value local, odorless, and storable fertilizers. Sales are expected to start after end-of-waste classification, with products sold to the highest bidder.
What ANCHOR Takes Forward
The lunch talk reinforced that people are central to the success of source-separating wastewater systems. Residents are generally satisfied, operators play a crucial role in system performance and learning, cooperation and knowledge sharing are essential, and automation and redundancy can significantly support operation. At the same time, recovered products such as fertilizers show real market potential when matched with the right users.
Together, these insights underline that technological innovation must go hand in hand with user understanding, operational experience, and clear value propositions across the entire system.
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