Going circular - Enhancing collaboration and co-creation between waste management and food system actors to achieve nutrient recirculation to agriculture.

Research Project, 2019 – 2020

Adequate management of organic residuals is one of the cornerstones of achieving many of the SDGs. In recent years, a wealth of innovative technologies to recover nutrients found in organic residuals, including human excreta and wastewater, have been investigated. While actors in the waste management sector are well aware of the need for nutrient recovery, there is a clear scope to better guide these efforts towards the needs of future food systems. The objective of the proposed project is to bring together diverse actors along the food chain with actors in waste management to jointly explore opportunities and hindrances in relation to extensive nutrient recirculation from organic residuals to biomass production. To this end, we will map actors with a stake in food systems and survey them with regard to their aspirations, experiences, concerns, and priority knowledge needs in relation to nutrient recirculation. We will also host three regional workshops as open spaces for mutual learning where actors from different disciplines and sectors share ideas on how to overcome barriers and leverage opportunities for increased nutrient recirculation. Taken together, this will help align nutrient recovery activities with the needs of future food systems by integrating perspectives from waste management actors with perspectives from food systems actors. It will also inform ongoing efforts towards collecting and consolidating best available knowledge on nutrient recirculation.