#Food & Organic streams
Projects

The True Price Lab is a project focusing on willingness to pay the true price for food and drink.

From 26 February to mid-June 2024, the restaurant and espresso bar in the Corry Tendeloo Building of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences will be dedicated to the True Price Lab. For four months, students and staff will be able to choose between paying the normal or true price for a number of products. This project is an initial exploration of consumers' willingness to pay the true price, which includes hidden environmental and social-impact costs.

True price versus consumer price

The true price can be defined as the price applicable after calculating and improving the true price of a product. The true price is based on the retail price plus the sum total of external social and environmental costs. Traditional pricing disregards these external costs, which are effectively paid for by society. For example, the retail price of a cup of coffee does not include the environmental damage of pest control or the underpayment of the farmers who grow the coffee.

The full extra amount that participants pay when they voluntarily opt for the true price will go to the non-profit organisation Solidaridad. Solidaridad wants to make the world a place where everything is made and bought in solidarity with people, the environment and future generations. Visitors to the restaurant and espresso bar can learn more about what their contributions will be used for by scanning a QR code.

We gooien in Amsterdam nog steeds ons gft-afval bij het huishoudelijke afval. Zonde vinden wij! Van dit gft-afval kan namelijk goede compost gemaakt worden. Daarom zijn we in mei 2020 samen met Stichting Onschatbare Waarde van start gegaan met het project Van Afval naar Oogst.

De centrale locatie van het project is in de buurttuin van I Can Change The World With My Two Hands, een initiatief van Onschatbare Waarde, in Amsterdam West. Onze gezamenlijke ambitie was 100 Amsterdammers te betrekken bij afvalscheiding en hergebruik. Meer dan 100 mensen hebben zich aangemeld en leveren nu wekelijks hun gf-afval in bij de buurttuin waar waardevolle compost van wordt gemaakt.

De Gezonde Stad werkt aan een groene, circulaire en inclusieve stad, niet door er lang over te praten, maar door te doen, samen met een community van bewoners, bedrijven, overheden en andere organisaties. We planten bomen, leggen buurtparken en moestuinen aan, we organiseren events om lokaal voedsel op de kaart te zetten, we zijn trekker van het platform Van Amsterdamse Bodem en we sluiten kringlopen, zodat afval weer tot iets waardevols kan worden omgezet.

Volg ons op social media of check degezondestad.org om op de hoogte te blijven.

From urine to plant 'food'
CINDERELA is a demonstration plant that transforms urine into nutrient-rich fertilizer. The plant is located at Marineterrein Amsterdam Living Lab (MALL), and consists of a refurbished shipping container – containing a laboratory and two urine-diverting toilets – and an adjacent greenhouse which also serves as a meeting space.
Visitors of the Marineterrein who use the toilets can witness how their urine is stabilized and purified in a bioreactor, and then distilled and concentrated into organic plant 'food'. At the demonstration plant, the urine is separated by the diverting toilets after which it is treated and 100% converted to usable raw material streams: nutrient-rich fertilizer and 'clean' water.

These two resulting products: the fertilizer – free of bad odor, pathogens or micropollutants – and water, will be used in the greenhouse and vegetable garden adjacent container, showcasing how nutrient-recovery technologies can be implemented to turn waste into resources and close the nutrient loop/create circular food systems.

Toilets that 'save' urine from the sewage system
So what actually makes urine a valuable organic waste stream? Its Nitrogen and Phosphorus content makes it a good fertilizer and compost accelerator. However, as you can imagine, it needs to be treated first to remove its bad odor and contaminants. In our innovative CINDERELA project, all available nutrients are recovered from urine.

In order to achieve this, a new type of toilet is used – developed by EAWAG, EOOS and LAUFEN – which looks just like a normal toilet. The only difference is that these toilets have an internal curved section that catches liquid on and around the bowl. By collecting the urine before it ends up in the sewage system, these toilets allow this waste stream to be re-purposed.

Separating urine before it ends up in the sewage systems is an effective recovery approach, as urine makes up roughly ~1.5% of the volume of sewage yet contains ~55% of its Phosphorus content and 80% of the Nitrogen (the two main nutrients needed for a fertilizer).

CINDERELA’s urine to fertilizer process is largely based on the “VUNA” process developed by scientists at EAWAG. “Aurin” is the resulting fertilizer commercialized by EAWAG’s spinoff “VUNA”.

Why is it important to recover nutrients from our wastewater?
Nitrogen and Phosphorus are among the nutrients which can be recovered from urine. These two nutrients together with other macro- and micronutrients are essential for plant growth and thus the production of our food.

However, the current model for managing these nutrients in our food cycle is out of balance and unsustainable. Modern agriculture relies heavily on the use of mineral/synthetic fertilizers as a source of nutrients. This is problematic because both the production and usage of these nutrients cause problems:

(1) production of mineral/synthetic fertilizers is dependent on fossil and mineral reserves. Nitrogen fertilizers are derived from the energy-intensive conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia (known as the Haber-Boshprocess). Phosphorus is obtained from the mining of phosphate rock reserves, which are finite and limited to a few locations around the globe.

(2) the intensive use of fertilizers is increasing (roughly doubling) the input of available nitrogen and phosphorus into natural ecosystems which has severe ecological consequences. The over availability of fertilizers used on fields ends up in our water systems. This causes eutrophication: a dense growth of plant life that can disrupt existing eco-systems.

Circular use of Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) (e.g. recycling the nutrients in our wastewater back to food production) is essential to, on the one hand, reduce our dependency on fossil and mineral reserves, and on the other avoid the negative ecological impact of “waste” nutrients ending up in the environment.

Closing the loops
The process of transforming urine into fertilizer in itself sounds innovative, we can imagine. On its own, this concept of recovering nutrients from urine is not new as there are several projects in place in which this is done. There are however a few reasons why our CINDERELA project is particularly innovative:

• Firstly, let's start of with the way the urine is collected in this project. In many cases, projects (can) only make use of urinals. The toilets available in this project can be used by anyone, which enables us to collect greater amounts of this waste stream, without the need to change user's habits.
• Secondly, many of the existing projects that focus on recovering nutrients from urine are limited to retrieving struvite (which contains phosphorus, and limited amounts of nitrogen). In this project, all available nutrients are retrieved. Adding to this, the residual water, after struvite recovery, is still water waste. At the CINDERELA demonstration plant, the full urine stream is treaded and reused. Plants and greens will be grown with the recovered nutrients as well as the water;
• Thirdly, at this living lab plastic is collected separately – according to type and quality – to be recycled using AM techniques. After washing and grinding this plastic, it is used in 3D printing to make components to build a customizable freestanding planted wall – a perfect spot for the plants and greens to grow.
• Last but not least, 'closing the loop' with regard to all the above: the CINDERELA living lab contributes to creating a local circular system as the entire loop of organic and inorganic waste streams is closed; from urine to fertilizer and water, from plastic to a plant-wall.

Larger project scope
This experiment is part of a larger European project that focuses on recycling resources and waste material in the construction center. The overall objective of CINDERELA is to unlock the potential for a resource-efficient urban and peri-urban construction sector by developing a new Circular Economy Business Model (CEBM) for use of secondary raw materials (SRM) produced from different waste streams – such as wastewater – within urban and peri-urban area. Read more about the project here.

A big part of innovation in space technology revolves around finding smart, efficient and circular ways to establish a life support system for the astronauts going on the trip. Since it’s simply impossible to bring an end-less amount of resources on board, how do you make sure the astronauts can eat, drink and breath?

What if we view “cities as spaceships”; in terms of urban environments being ‘closed-loop systems’? This gives way to the idea that the same space technology developed by ESA could be applied to increase circularity in a city like Amsterdam.

Towards circular resource streams
Municipal wastewater is a great resource for nutrients and water reuse. The Space for Food project aims to use space technology in recovering nutrients and cleaning wastewater that can be used in food production using vertical farming. Closing the loops from waste to resource will help improving the impact in the environment, while creating resilience for the cities.

For this reason, the project will test a proof of concept using a raceway reactor for purple bacteria cultivation on brewery and municipal yellow wastewater at Marineterrein Amsterdam Living Lab. The biomass will be used as slow release fertilizer and bio-stimulant for cultivation of vegetables.

52wekenduurzaam nodigt je uit om je eigen leven stap voor stap duurzamer te maken. Een jaar lang iedere week een kleine verrassende en duurzame stap. Om te zien of het bij je past. Word je er gelukkig van, dan hou je het vol. Zo niet, dan skip je het. Wij onderzoeken wat er wel kan. Uitdagend, leuk, leerzaam en gratis. Loop je een stukje met ons mee?

Wij denken dat we met elkaar op een gemakkelijke manier veel duurzamer kunnen worden. Door elkaar te inspireren en uit te dagen. Door leuke en verrassende dingen te onderzoeken. Om zo je eigen versie van een duurzame leefstijl te ontwikkelen. We streven naar 5000 deelnemers in 2021. Hoe meer mensen meedoen, hoe beter. Voor onze Totale Impact Score, maar ook voor jezelf, want samen is veel leuker dan alleen. Dus geweldig als je nu al je gezin, je buren, vrienden en collega’s inspireert om ook mee te doen.

De taskforce Communication Alliance for a Circular Region (CACR) wil de circulaire economie in de Metropoolregio Amsterdam versnellen met praktische verhalen voor en over ondernemers en bedrijven. We nodigen iedereen uit mee te doen met de discussie op amsterdamsmartcity.com. De CACR bestaat uit: Hogeschool van Amsterdam | Gemeente Amsterdam | Amsterdam Economic Board | Amsterdam Smart City | Metabolic en AMS Institute.

Artikelen 'Circulaire economie en data'

• Volop kansen in de nieuwe circulaire werkelijkheid / Data zijn de zuurstof van de circulaire economie: deel 1
• Slim datagebruik in de circulaire economie: de drie belangrijkste redenen / Data zijn de zuurstof van de circulaire economie: deel 2
• 100.000 bedrijven restafvalvrij in 2025
• Slim datagebruik in de circulaire economie: dit is wat bedrijven zelf kunnen doen / Data zijn de zuurstof van de circulaire economie: deel 3

Artikelen circular strategies

Maak je bedrijf toekomstbestendig met deze circulaire strategieën

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The taskforce Communication Alliance for a Circular Region (CACR) is working to accelerate the circular economy in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, sharing practical stories for and about entrepreneurs and businesses. The CACR is an initiative by Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences | City of Amsterdam | Amsterdam Economic Board | Amsterdam Smart City | Metabolic | AMS Institute.

Articles 'Circular economy and data'

• A wealth of opportunities in the new circular reality / Data is the oxygen that the circular economy thrives on: part 1
• Smart data usage in the circular economy: 3 key reasons / Data is the oxygen that the circular economy thrives on: part 2
• 100,000 companies residual waste-free by 2025
• Smart data use in the circular economy: this is what companies can do themselves / Data is the oxygen that the circular economy thrives on: part 3

Articles: Future-proof your business using circular strategies

Future-proof your busness using these circualr strategies

Te wicked? Niet voor ons.

Wij werken allemaal aan urgente, complexe, maatschappelijke uitdagingen. Issues die schier onoplosbaar lijken, van dilemma’s en paradoxen omgeven, nog niet duidelijk hoe het moet. Wel is duidelijk dát het moet, dat we elkaar nodig
hebben en dat we er NU aan moeten beginnen. Om met de woorden van Jan Rotmans te spreken; we leven niet in een tijdperk van verandering maar in een verandering van tijdperk. En hier hoort een nieuwe gereedschapskist bij.

En of je nou aan energietransitie werkt, andere mobiliteitssystemen, creëren van waterstofhubs, peer to peer autodeelsystemen, het maakt niet uit, we zien dat al deze opgaven op enig moment tegen gelijksoortige barrières aanlopen. Op samenwerking, financiering, privacy, onvoldoende aansluiting op de maatschappij, om maar een paar voorbeelden te noemen.

Unieke samenwerking
Als Amsterdam Smart City netwerk willen en kunnen we deze opgaven niet laten liggen. Door het bundelen van onze kennis en expertise kunnen we als netwerk iets unieks bieden en de wil en durf tonen om deze barrières te doorbreken. De betrokken partners die dit uitdenken en begeleiden zijn RHDHV, Kennisland, Drift, NEMO, Arcadis, Alliander, HvA en Metabolic. Zij bundelen hun expertise en ervaring om de echte vragen boven tafel te krijgen, tot nieuwe manieren van samenwerken te komen en barrières te doorbreken. We richten ons met name op de start van de samenwerking. Gezamenlijk ontwikkelen we een ‘wicked problem aanpak’. Op een nieuwe manier, lerend door te doen, exploratief.

Waar moet je aan denken?
Wat is eigenlijk het echte probleem? Wiens probleem is dit? Hoe kijken anderen er tegenaan? Welke andere partijen lijken nodig? Hoe vind je ze? Hoe ga je om met eigenaarschap en botsende frames? Hoe zorg je dat je al in
een vroeg stadium de maatschappij (bewoners, ondernemers, werknemers, etc) betrekt en hun ervaringen in het project trekt? Het wicked problem team zet nieuwe methoden in voor het beantwoorden van deze vragen. En het creëren van de benodigde commitment om het vraagstuk aan te pakken. Niets staat van te voren vast, want we passen ons aan aan wat we tegenkomen. Met elkaar ontwikkelen we een nieuwe aanpak om de barrières te doorbreken.

Ever since the 20th century most of the countries across the globe are still using the traditional way of farming and it’s still going on for the demand and supply of people. As we all know that by the year 2050, the 80 % estimation of the world population will have been living in urban areas which can lead the total population of the world to increase by 3 billion people. With this large amount of increase in population, scientists and researchers are quite worried about the farmland which will be required to generate such a huge demand for food supply to fulfill the necessity to survive. Noticing this fact in mind as what would be the future source of alternative solutions to solve such a type of problem a concept was proposed named “In-House Farming”.

Be a superhero! Our cashew travel 12.500 km less than the cashew you will find in your local supermarket and they are better for the farmer, the environment and you.

Did you know that 90% of all cashew nuts travel 27.000 km before they end up at a store near you (3/4 the glove)? Did you know that Africa is the world largest producer, but that 90% of the nuts are being processed in Vietnam & India under harsh conditions, only to be shipped all the way back to the Netherlands?

Neither did we...

But as soon as we realized this, we started this project: Johnny Cashew. We decided to ship cashew straight from Tanzania, while making sure the farmer and the local processor got a fair price. Also, we found a home for the broken cashew nuts that are normally cast aside: we started workshops in Amsterdam to turn them into bars, pasta and maybe also a dressing on your next ice cream :).
Part of our profits will go to planting new cashew trees in Tanzania: good for the farmer, the environment and your karma.

In other words: our nuts taste good, look good and do good!

More info at www.JohnnyCashew.com

Our children are growing on paved, 2 dimentional and disconnected school environments. We are here to change that. With our passion Permaculture concept, we designed and created a new style of school garden, which doesn't exist in Amsterdam and if we are not wrong in the Netherlands. It was not the first of our school design/implementation. Laterna Magica School in IJburg Amsterdam is also another example.

You can find further info, photos, videos on our website. We need help from all aware people to inform schools about our services that we can have more impact on our environment and children's connection with nature

The Kaskantine will implement together with the neighboorhood its design for closing local resource loops: a kitchen with closed water cycle, preventing local food waste, introduce neighbourhood composting, and organise repair cafe's, sport and musique workshops, etc. Data will be gathered to monitor the resource cycling and methods will be tested to make it more socially and culturally inclusive.

User-created nature-based solutions in an urban environment;

The case of the KasKantine (Greenhouse Cantina), Amsterdam

Historically landscape architecture and infrastructural planning have assigned physical separated functions to landscape in order to upscale and manage resource flows cost efficiently. Rather than monosectoral and large scale linear production systems we can now see a shift to decentralized and locally integrated solutions to close resource loops. In these solutions also citizens can play a more (pro)active role. After being more prominent in rural areas, landscape architecture is now also more active as a lead design principle in urban neighbourhoods. Local integrated solutions for resource cycling efficiency give rise to multiple value production rather than to an increase of local financial income. Either way it increases citizen driven (semi)professional activities in resource management in urban neighbourhoods, as well in its creation and in management.

We see enormous potential in this approach: it can reconnect citizens to nature, it can facilitate in changing lifestyles AND produce the right technology to face our climate and resource crisis. But before it can become mainstream, we see the following challenges and questions, mainly to do with creating sufficient local political support and accessibility to these technological and economic opportunities.

• How can actors on local level on one side and central sectoral level at the other side co-create and redesign effectively the landscape, necessary to close resource loops locally with sufficient democratic legitimacy?
• How could citizen-driven services in resource management be held accountable to a broader public and the public sector?
• How can these nature-based solutions be culturally and socially inclusive?
• How can socio-economically marginal(ized|) groups profit from this increased multiple-values production?

We can try to answer those questions for one specific case to see how it could work out in practice. The Kaskantine is a not-for-profit volunteer driven garden- restaurant - food coop which has as its main objective to show that more autonomous, off the grid nature based solutions for climate adaptive working and living in urban areas are possible and can be at the same time a new lifestyle. It is a small village of refurbished shipping containers, recycled greenhouses and (roof top)gardens. The Kaskantine is currently being built on its fourth location and is negotiating a 7 years ground lease with the municipality of Amsterdam.

The Kaskantine managed to grow from only one container and a one-man company, 5 years ago, to a cooperative with over 30 volunteers with 13 containers. A second village is being planned of 7 containers in the east of Amsterdam. This has been realised without any external capital investment or subsidies. The strategy has always been: find a solution with the least possible financial costs and turn untapped local resources into value.

In doing so the Kaskantine discovered that although real estate prices in Amsterdam skyrocket, there is still a lot of underutilised land and water, that is without use for people and for nature. Lots of plots are “waiting” to be developed, or are underdeveloped: for one function while there could be double or triple functionalities. We could call this “real estate waste”. The Kaskantine could use land for free because there was no direct market value of that land. And the same counts for other important resources: (rain)water, (solar)energy, food (waste and own production), labour (volunteers) and (natural and waste) materials. The Kaskantine is able to operate with zero fixed costs and therefore able to survive.

Furthermore, with its installations it is trying to integrate all received good and services in local loops. Maximum in, minimum out. This is optimized by integrating different resource loops in one management system.

An abundance of one flow of resources can be absorbed by other resource cycles: Peak solar energy can be used in extra ventilation, aeration and irrigation. Sudden food surpluses are redistributed for free and create network solidarity. The Kaskantine is also able to use resources in all phases of their life cycle, like wood: from construction to fire wood. Or being able by using rest heat in storing it in mass or other spaces, or filtering waste water for irrigation. We call this adaptive capacity: the capacity to buffer abundance and use it later or in an alternative way.

Finally, an alternative lifestyle is embraced, one that is appreciating the value of abundance of local resources, rather than the value of market choice.

We could argue that the Kaskantine is thriving in an alternative economy, that can exist thanks to and despite of the mainstream economy that they are trying to transform. We call this abundance or give economy, in contrast with economy based on consumption and the organisation of scarcity.

Abundance economy as being a sum of relatively autonomous integrated projects in mainstream economy.

Because of its ability to expand autonomously within mainstream economy, and because its abundance economy is not a zero-sum game as long as local resources and waste are underutilised, the Kaskantine is very open for participation. There is no economic argument against including more neighborhood activities, on the contrary. More participation seems therefore to depend more on the capability of cultural inclusiveness: if people feel comfortable within the network of the Kaskantine, or if people feel comfortable to start a sort of “kaskantine” on their own.

First, the opportunity to integrate has been ”built in” into the design of the Kaskantine by a step-in approach. From experience as a guest (exchange, tasting, get inspired, etc) to participation in the design, creation and operation of the Kaskantine and Kaskantine related projects.

Secondly, the Kaskantine is also active in the neighbourhood centre and within a network of community organisations, with a step-out approach. In this case the Kaskantine offers through free workshops a learning curve to adopt small scale installations, like vertical gardens and worm composting, and participate in food saving and storage at home in order to take a step back from mainstream economy into the abundance economy.

An important ambition of the Kaskantine is to negotiate with the municipality a land lease contract in which the landuser takes responsibility for its development and environmental control of the land. This cheaper land rent will hopefully give other “kaskantines” the opportunity to arise.

The Kaskantine has free energy to spend on helping other groups in joining this movement because it can operate autonomously and with low fixed costs. This creates hopeful opportunities for inclusiveness of the proposed solutions. Whether this is done in some kind of co-creation with more central institutions depends more on their own capability to work with local small scale initiatives and on their willingness to change or compensate the negative effects of their lineair production models and on their willingness and capability to change sectoral into integrated policies.

The grassroots movement YIMBY Yes-In-My-Back-Yard! stimulates local food growing in the city. The so called YIMBY food growing containers are the first food growing experience for citizen. Together with green lessons citizen will grow in local food growing in the city. At the national neighbour day a yearly green event is organized to exchange green ideas and good food.

Arnhem - Het Arnhemse burgerinitiatief YIMBY, Yes-In-My-Back-Yard Arnhem! is genomineerd voor de duurzame Top 100 van het dagblad Trouw. De elfde editie van de duurzame Top 100 in 2019 is een lijst van onderop, van burgers die het heft in eigen handen nemen en zelf een duurzaam initiatief opzetten.

In 2013 hebben burgers vanuit het buurthuis 't Huukske in Arnhem-West het initiatief genomen om mobiele moestuinbakken op te zetten in de wijk. Het initiatief krijgt al snel de naam YIMBY Arnhem! De afkorting YIMBY staat voor Yes-In-My-Back-Yard en betekent dat burgers positief staan om eigen initiatieven in de achtertuin te starten. Bij YIMBY Arnhem! staan moestuinbakken, groen en ontmoeten centraal.

Voor de burgers in de wijk zijn de YIMBY moestuinbakken vaak de eerste kennismaking om zelf groenten en kruiden in de stad te verbouwen. De ervaring is dat de eigenaars van YIMBY moestuinbakken als vervolgstap kiezen voor het telen van groente in een grotere voedseltuin in de stad. Om het telen van voedstel te ondersteunen wordt ieder voorjaar in de wijk de cursus "Biologisch Tuinieren in de Stad" gegeven.

De YIMBY moestuinbakken worden al zeven jaar gemaakt door deelnemers en vrijwilligers van de zorgboerderij Hoeve Klein Mariëndaal in Arnhem-West. In totaal hebben de timmermannen van de Hoeve Klein Mariëndal al meer dan 100 YIMBY moestuinbakken geleverd. Voor de zevende keer wordt op de Hoeve Klein Mariëndaal het YIMBY Oogstfeest gehouden op burendag. Het YIMBY Oogstfeest wordt georganiseerd door vrijwilligers en nodigt deelnemers van de zorgboerderij en eigenaars van de YIMBY moestuinbakken uit voor een zelfgemaakte maaltijd. Deze maaltijd wordt gesponsord door de middenstand in de wijk Arnhem-West.

Op 10 oktober 2019 wordt de lijst van de duurzame Top 100 van het dagblad Trouw gepresenteerd. In zeven jaar zijn veel resultaten met groen en ontmoeten in de stad Arnhem bereikt. Gezien het langdurige succes van de YIMBY moestuinbakken is de kans groot dat YIMBY Arnhem! in deze lijst zal voorkomen.

Ook geinteresseerd in een YIMBY moestuinbak? Kijk op website www.hoevekleinmariendaal.nl met het zoekwoord: YIMBY.

Sharing is caring, as the young folks say.
BuurtBuik is all about sharing food with your neighbors. We cook meals from food that would be wasted otherwise. Thereby, bringing people together around a free three course meal and build their social network. It impacts both environmental and social goals, thus, bridging the gap to a circular social economy. Come around a see it in action, we feed 500 people three course meals every week!

Biochar is a soil amendment made typically from bio-mass through a process called pyrolysis with low-oxygen. By using a low-cost, easy-to-make biochar stove, communities can arrange to turn common waste products into biochar.
The vision behind this project is for healthy and resilient communities. This means that I prefer methods that promote local, DIY and community approach, so that it can quickly scale and adapt to different towns/cities.

Most importantly, carbon being the element behind Life has tremendous versatility. It can be used to filter water and then used as a soil amendment. Or it can be mixed to make better concrete composites for roads (asphalt) and concrete. It can improve manufacturing by making carbon fiber alloys.
Last but not least, it is done through a circular model of using waste such as wood sticks, bio-mass, paper, saw dust mills, anything with carbon, even plastics. The output heat can be captured for heating buildings and cooking stoves. The opportunities are endless.
Sizes of stove vary in function of available supply/demand dynamics. For more information, check the biochar-international.org or Ithaka International.
Thank you.

PS: Stockholm, Sweden has achieved this recently. If the Swedes can do it, we can learn from them and improve together!
http://www.nordregio.org/sustainable_cities/stockholm-biochar-project/

Some guidelines for background and context
https://www.biochar-international.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IBI_Pyrolysis_Plant_Guidelines.pdf

We've just launched the delivery pilot for Ozarka: a prepared foods service coming to Amsterdam where all our packaging is sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic and all of it is returnable and reusable. We're accepting new participants for both residential and corporate customers in Amsterdam. Email me to join or find out more! beth@ozarka.biz

www.Ozarka.biz

<https://www.frank.news/article/marketing/dit-nieuwe-amsterdamse-retailbedrijf-gaat-de-strijd-aan-met-plastic-soep.html>

In the research project Re-store knowledge is developed how to assess the impact of solutions to process organic waste. What indicators are most important and how will it be possible to measure those.

In order to ensure that there is enough food, materials and energy for everyone in 2050, our economy must become circular. There is no more waste in a circular economy - waste is raw material. Based on this vision, the AUAS works on knowledge development about circular products and processes. The Re-Organize project investigated how organic waste in urban agriculture areas can be reused locally using new solutions. Examples include local bio-fermentation, composting and insect breeding. The new Re-StORe project will extend the scope of urban agriculture research into the built environment.

Would you like to know more about the project or would you like to get involved, please contact Maarten Mulder, projectmanager of Re-store, m.mulder3@hva.nl

Circular Organic Waste in Amsterdam is a thesis project carried out in a collaboration between the UvA Faculty of Science, the Amsterdam Business School and the Van ’t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (Research Priority Area Sustainable Chemistry)The aim of the project is to investigate on the potential of separate organic waste collection and treatment in improving the circularity of Amsterdam. Amsterdam wants to become a sustainable and circular city by 2050 and increase recycling to 65% of waste by 2020 (currently around 27%). In addition, in April 2018, the European Parliament has adopted the revised Waste Framework Directive which declares that all member states shall ensure that biowaste is separately collected by 2023. Therefore it is clear that the separate collection of organic waste represents both an opportunity for the city to get closer to its targets and a necessity.

Currently, organic waste is not separately collected and it is just incinerated with the residual waste. In this way, energy is produced but all the nutrients and organic matter are lost and so all the value. Other treatments, more specific for organic waste, could allow for the recycling of nutrients, the retention of the value and even the upcycling of some materials. However, the introduction of another waste stream separately collected raises organizational, logistic and transportation issues. Therefore, this research aims at analyzing various potential collection solutions that could minimize costs and environmental impact making feasible and convenient the separate collection of organic waste and different possible treatments for this waste stream.

The analysis will be based on interviews, case studies and literatures and will be performed from different perspectives in order to have a systemic vision. Parallelly also the city of Amsterdam and its different sub-environments will be analyzed in order to understand the specific needs, limitation and opportunities of each different area. Combining the results, the most successful case studies that fit best in the characteristics of the city will be selected and integrated in different sustainable business models.

The set of business models proposed will produce an overall strategy for the management of organic waste following the principles of sustainability and circular economy as much as possible.
At the same time, the research will be backed by a social analysis performed through a questionnaire in order to get data on the real perception about this issue among Amsterdam’s inhabitants. The questionnaire will also help to get data on what would be the best instruments to incentivise the separate collection of organic waste and what the biggest barriers to its realisation are.

You can access the questionnaire through this link:

https://goo.gl/forms/8ApXVDSepWmlsyBH2

We want to locally grow & distribute oyster mushrooms from a locally diverted waste stream: office and hospitality coffee grounds. For this process, you need four things: coffee grounds, mushroom spawn, a cold room and a warm room.

We’ve started collecting green waste and coffee grounds from fourteen businesses in Secret Village (west part of Reguliersdwarsstraat and its side streets), every weekday. We currently compost all of it in the area, but we’d like to start producing oyster mushrooms from the coffee grounds ASAP. We’ve secured the cold room, but we’ve yet to find a small local space (±10m2, ±500m from Muntplein) that can function as the warm room. We’re also working on finalising a participation project with the municipality, for manpower needed for the collection and distribution of coffee grounds and mushrooms.

See also

Secret Village project page: www.greencitybuzz/secret-village

To read about all our activities in Secret Village, navigate to http://www.greencitybuzz.nl/secret-village/#projecten

A temporary exposition from 9 till 27 October in the Herstelling at the Town Hall to provide practitioners of circular projects in the city and the municipality Amsterdam a place to show their work and take the spotlight. Learn what a circular economy is and how the whole city is working on becoming and staying circular.

Opening 9 October

End 27 October

Special program follows later

Do you have an innovative circular product or project and want to show it at the circulair expo? Contact Ward Mesman at w.mesman@amsterdam.nl