Resource Recovery Best Practice Award 2025 – Nominations are open

Recovering valuable resources from water and wastewater is key to a more sustainable and resilient future. By turning residuals into energy, nutrients, and bioproducts, we reduce waste and unlock new economic opportunities. The IWA Resource Recovery Best Practice Award 2025, initiated by Allied Waters and AquaMinerals, recognizes outstanding innovations that make this possible. This award highlights best practices in resource recovery and promotes their wider adoption across the water industry. Nominations are open until 5 May 2025!

Award and evaluation criteria

IWA’s Resource Recovery from Water Cluster is now calling for nominations for the Resource Recovery Best Practice Award 2025. The IWA Resource Recovery Best Practice Award will be presented at the 6th IWA International Resource Recovery Conference, taking place in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, from 19-23 May 2025.

An expert  international evaluation committee will evaluate nominations based on the following criteria:

•  Innovative approach to resource recovery
• Scalability and replication potential
• Environmental impact
• Collaboration across the resource value chain
• Economic viability

The winner will receive a trophy, certificate, and the opportunity to present their project at the conference.

Previous winners

2023: KWR Water Research Institute, Circularity in the water cycle: reuse of iron sludge as flocculant
2019: HighCon, RR from concentrates (TU Berlin and partners, Germany)
2017: Anyang wastewater plant, RR of water and energy (POSCO Engineering and partners, South Korea)
2015: Upcycling lime pellets from drinking water plants (Reststoffenunie/Aquaminerals and partners, the Netherlands)

Submission information

• Deadline: 5 May 2025
• Application: Complete all fields in the online application and upload all required documents, including a video recording of max. 2-3 minutes. Incomplete entries will not be considered.
• Eligibility: Self-nominations are encouraged!

For further information, please visit Resource Recovery Best Practice Award 2025 – IWA Network or contact rachna.sarkari@iwahq.org.