Our project "somebody's food" has come to an end. And there are very interesting learning lessons to take forward.
It was a great experience to be working with other academics and practitioner. At some point during the project, we had to stop and reflect about our own goals to be pursued. Also because myself as a PI was trying to move forward without much success.
Coming from different disciplines (engineering and management) and backgrounds (media, technology venturing), it transpired that our goals were about a) ensuring successful adoption of a technology (anaerobic digestion) whilst also b) making sure people were going to use it. And c) supporting our university campus managers who needed to meet specific targets (i.e. reducing single plastic use or food waste).
Some of these goals were not explicit at the beginning of the project. They gradually emerged. And had to be managed. One element that helped in this regard was to design a future campus vision, where all these goals could coexist. And so we did, following a suggestion from our industry partner. We included a slightly different goal instead of implementing anaerobic digestion: composting, its supporting processes and behaviours. In preparing the vision, it also helped that we had an implicit common ground that became more prominent: The circular economy or CE. This is a kind of paradigm that suggests transforming business practices to eliminate if not reuse waste emerging from them.
At this point in time, we have shared our vision with several campus managers. There is a wealth of activity to meet waste reduction targets and generate awareness about waste. We keep updating our vision to consider new possibilities and also the feedback received.
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