(TL/JB) Belgian-Lebanese entrepreneur Edmond Jreige has taken his first step in developing technology for a better world by marketing his first project - a waterless urinal.

Having completed a Master in Entrepreneurship from a Parisian business school, the 26-year-old returned to his home in Luxembourg and settled in with innovation promotion agency LuxInnovation.

In 2015, he created TechnoGreen, which aims to developed “Technologies for a better world”, which work in harmony with the environment.

His first move was to recover the franchise of Urimat, a plumbing service which worked on these kinds of urinals until it went bankrupt.

“People who had these waterless urinals needed maintenance, so we embarked on the adventure,” said Jreige.

One year on and the entrepreneur says that the project has helped to save 10 million litres of water. The device is simple in its approach to preventing three litres of water being flushed away each time a person uses the toilet.

Urimat, a Swiss company, began marketing the light and resistant polycarbonate waterless urinal in 1998. It is made in a factory which uses 80% hydroelectric and 20% wind energy.

The urinal costs 499 euros and is equipped with a replaceable filter which filters urine. Each filter costs 20 euros and can be used up to 8,000 times.

“It's hard to hear sometimes that a potential customer is not interested because the device is profitable after 18 months and has a life span of ten years,” said Jreige.

The entrepreneur is optimistic that the product will take off if Luxembourg's public sector were to adopt the urinals, for example in schools, service stations, the university and various other buildings. Getting hotels and restaurants on board will be harder, however.

The product earned the entrepreneur the “Green Start-Up of the year” in Luxembourg during last summer's business awards.

“I don't just do it for the awards. I really believe in it. It's important for me that we develop technologies that respect the environment,” he said, adding: “If you can have a tax credit of 300 euros for buying a bike, you could tell yourself that buying a urinal which brings down CO2, brings down costs for water treatment, all this without electricity or water, deserves a boost too.”

Ultimately, the entrepreneur hopes to create an online store selling crowdfunded green technology.

He is already looking into a new kind of 100% recycled toilet paper which has as many sheets as a roll of classic toilet paper. Other examples include a water-saving tap and a Danish-designed air conditioning unit involving a computer and glass of water.

“I want to be able to spot these technologies that make sense and sell them,” he said.

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