From farm to fork and back to farm – a knowledge lift for the W&S-sector and the food industry to enable circular nutrient management

Sewage is the municipal waste stream containing the most nutrients, but only a fraction is recirculated to agricultural land and used for crop production.

Lack of circular systems in wastewater management and food production results in eutrophication of aquatic environments and an import dependency of non-renewable chemical fertilizers, produced with fossil fuels often in geopolitically sensitive areas.

Based on the release of several governmental inquires last year, proposing future demands on nutrient recirculation, the industry stands in front of a paradigm shift.

But despite governmental promotion and the contribution of circular nutrient management for reaching several of the sustainable development goals, implementation is slow.IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute has in recent years been a leading national player promoting a circular transition.

The focus of this work has been on research to develop guidelines and road maps, for example to facilitated technology implementation and for effective marked-based instruments. IVL has also initiated platforms to bring the W&S- and the food industry together.

An evident conclusion from our work is that none of the stakeholders, from the sewage treatment sector to the food producers, has the capacity to contribute and work together for a circular transition.

A knowledge lift is necessary!Within this communication initiative, IVL intends to disseminate our research about circular nutrient management and how to mitigate potential risks.

By bringing the knowledge together on a campaign website: presenting guides, films and best-practices, different stakeholders can share each other’s challenges and possibilities.

To guide different stakeholders to the website, we will launch several educating and thrilling campaigns in social media and other communication channels specific for each group of stakeholders, e.g industry press, fairs and newsletters.The project’s main objective is to gather all stakeholders involved in circular nutrient management, i.e. wastewater professionals, farmers, fertilizer companies, agricultural advisors, food producers, and decision makers, and increase as well as balance their capacity.

Several researchers with doctoral degrees, that daily work with circular nutrient management, will be involved in the project as well as the communication department at IVL, with good connections in the industry. The project will be delivered in five working packages and last for two years.