CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Cities consume large amounts of water and food resources. In the future, population growth, prosperity and climate change are expected to significantly increase pressure on natural resources, so it is essential that cities improve the management of incoming resources.

A strengthened circular economy is thus crucial for our future ability to produce food and to make our food production more environmentally and climate-friendly. Here, cities and urban agriculture systems can be the starting point for optimising our available resources. There are significant environmental and economic potentials to be gained by creating circular pathways capable of recycling nutrients, energy and water.

Fit-for-purpose recycling between countryside and cities

By identifying fit-for-purpose solutions capable of utilising nutrients and energy from urban waste in a different way than it is done today, we will be able to contribute to an increasingly circular economy.

We can facilitate a city's transition to an increased circular economy by establishing green facades and roofs that can collect rainwater, clean the air and absorb CO2. The purified rainwater can again be integrated as an element of green urban cultivation areas.

There is a need for a significantly higher degree of knowledge regarding the recycling of nutrients and organic matter, including the assessment of the risks and robustness of the agroecosystem in relation to undesirable substances associated with the long-term effects of especially phosphorus in some recycled products.  There may also be an additional need to elucidate the effect of recycling on antibiotic resistance, micro-plastics in the soil, and effects on groundwater quality.

Would you like to get in touch with one of our urban farming experts?