Repurposing by-products from food production
Challenge: What solutions could help companies use food production by-products more efficiently and sustainably?
Food processing plants still leave a significant amount of by-products, which are discarded as waste or used very inefficiently. For companies this means additional costs for waste disposal. However, most of the by-products can be reused and returned to the value chain. This would allow companies to implement the full circle of the circular economy and to re-use as many by-products of their activities as possible.
For example, companies are currently facing the problem that oil and juice pulp, as well as various by-products of dairy production, are re-used only as animal feed (in the best scenario). This way of re-using these by-products is both environmentally and economically unsustainable. The goal of this challenge is to discover a food by-product (not necessarily mentioned above) that is currently not being re-used or is re-used inefficiently and to suggest an efficient way to re-use it.
Fostering regenerative agriculture
Challenge: What solutions could motivate farmers, agribusinesses, and the food industry to adopt more effective regenerative agriculture practices?
The most promising solutions in Europe for addressing issues with human and climatic health, as well as farmers’ financial security, are provided by regenerative agriculture. Public knowledge of the advantages of purchasing regeneratively grown products would rise if the agrifood sector were encouraged to embrace more effective agricultural techniques.
Current agricultural methods are degrading healthy soils and biodiversity, and the agrifood sector is directly responsible for 24% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Unlike degraded soil, healthy organic topsoil holds CO2 and water and recycles nutrients. So, by working together with nature, we can grow more resilient crops, produce more valuable food, and use less water. We can even slow down climate change; if the world’s soils stored at least 0.4% more CO2 each year, it would offset all human CO2 emissions.
In this challenge, you are expected to provide solutions that will encourage farmers and the agro-industry to move towards regenerative agriculture: to meet climate change mitigation goals, to meet food security needs, to protect farmland, and to create a healthier food system.
Designing sustainable food packaging
Challenge: What solutions could encourage the use of more sustainable but more expensive packaging?
Although the focus on environmentally friendly packaging in Europe is increasing, manufacturers are facing significant challenges in bringing such packaging to the market and finding a balance between environmental and economic sustainability. For many customers the final price has a decisive impact on the choice of the product. Large supermarkets respond to this by choosing products that can offer a better shelf price. As the price of packaging is becoming a more important component of the final price, producers offering less sustainable packaging gain a competitive advantage.
During this challenge, you are expected to find solutions that could change the current situation. What solution could this be? Could it be a marketing strategy encouraging consumers to choose more sustainable (even though more expensive) packaging? Could it be a new packaging model that would allow packaging to be successfully “resurrected for a second life” and adapted for further use? Or maybe you can offer a solution that would reduce the cost of producing sustainable packaging while preserving the quality? You have the freedom to choose the most appropriate way to solve this challenge.