Pumping toilet water directly into surface water? Unfortunately, for many boat owners, this is still the norm, despite a legal ban. Ignis Trollmann and his co-founders Gert Nützel and Lucas Veel from the startup Fluss are changing that. They developed the FlussGuard, an innovative and compact wastewater treatment system for your boat that doesn’t compromise the luxury and convenience of water sports enthusiasts.
A problem stemming from personal frustration
The idea for Fluss arose from co-founder Gert Nützel’s frustration. He was given the opportunity to live on a yacht in Rotterdam, a dream come true for him. There, he immediately ran into the new legislation. Nützel set out to find a system that would comply with the regulations, but couldn’t find anything suitable. The available systems were massive installations designed for cruise ships, required an entire engine room, or weren’t approved for the Dutch market.
Drawing on his technical background in physics and his career in product development, Nützel decided to build a solution himself, together with co-founder Lucas Veel, as part of a graduation project at TU Delft. The lab tests were successful, the idea was born, and after a chance encounter with Ignis during a program at YES!Delft, the founding team was complete.
Luxury, convenience, and cleaner water
The FlussGuard was officially launched this year. The system, which is about the size of a beer crate, is installed between the existing toilet and the outdoor drain. It works simply but effectively: toilet water is pumped into the unit, completely disinfected through heating in about 10 minutes, and then discharged cleanly overboard.
What makes the FlussGuard unique is that it operates fully automatically and requires no chemicals. The system kills all viruses and bacteria through heating. This can be powered by the boat’s electrical system, but it can also be connected to the engine, using the residual heat (coolant) to heat the system. “While sailing, you essentially have an energy-neutral system that operates without consuming any additional power.”
Lobbying Against the Tide
Given that there is currently little enforcement regarding the illegal discharge of toilet water, several groups are lobbying to raise awareness among boat owners and policymakers. The Nature and Environment Foundation recently sent an urgent letter to lawmakers and featured a segment on the importance of properly disposing of toilet water on the TV show “Hart van Nederland.”
The Value of the PLNT Community
To further develop their business, Fluss set up shop at PLNT in Leiden. “I often came across those stuffy office buildings that really had no atmosphere at all,” Trollmann recalls of his search. “Then I walked into PLNT and thought: This is truly an incubator. Lots of startups, everyone gets along, and people actually talk to each other. This is exactly what we need.”
While at PLNT, the team participated in the Sprout program, but Trollmann derives the greatest value from the informal networks. “When I run into a problem, I often ask questions in the PLNT community. For example, another startup helped me ‘scrape’ leads from the internet, which saved me from having to spend hours Googling for contact information for water sports companies. That’s what’s great about PLNT.”
Scaling Up and International Ambitions
With the product’s launch, Fluss is now focusing on optimizing the FlussGuard’s processes. They are putting off investing in “recurring revenue” models, a major priority for many investors, for the time being. “Investors always want you to keep selling things to existing customers,” says Ignis. “Our focus right now is on reaching as many users as possible. Only then will we look at how we can offer existing customers valuable extras. We don’t want to burden consumers with annoying, recurring costs, such as a monthly subscription to get rid of ads.”
The goals for the next five years are clearly defined. “I hope that in the Netherlands we’ll become the go-to solution for the toilet water discharge problem and that it will become standard equipment on all ships,” Ignis says ambitiously. In addition, the company is already setting its sights on international waters in Europe, the U.S., and Australia. “We’ve started the process of getting certified there. Exporting and installing our systems worldwide. That’s where I see us in five years.”
