19.03.2026
On March 19, 2026, the official inauguration of the ecReUse pilot facilities took place with the participation of Mayor Princess Faku, representatives from the scientific community, and members of the municipal administration. Verena Stöckigt attended the event on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV).
As part of a technical tour of the hydroponic demonstration facility, initial positive results from the first pilot phase were presented.
As early as October, plant production operations had been successfully established, local staff had been trained, and the facility had been handed over to the nursery of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality under the management of Debbie Reynhardt. During the first cultivation cycle, various ornamental plants for seed production were cultivated and successfully harvested across the three system components: (1) Deep Water Culture (DWC), (2) Bato Bucket (BB), and (3) drip irrigation.
In a second cultivation cycle, the DWC component was used for the vegetative propagation of cuttings from various indigenous trees and shrubs. The hydroponic system is currently operated using reclaimed water from an ultrafiltration stage. Overall, the plants exhibit very good growth performance. In particular, cuttings grown in the hydroponic system develop faster-growing and more robust root systems compared to soil-grown reference plants cultivated in the nursery. This indicates significant potential for the rapid propagation of resilient plant species for the restoration of indigenous vegetation.
Taking into account the defined risk classes, further trials with crops for human consumption, animal feed, and food are planned for the coming growing seasons.
We look forward to further project results and the development of transferable agricultural operator models using reclaimed water as the project progresses.
Further information is available on the project website: https://ecreuse.net/
