Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
Biowaste resource for the private and public sector
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
BIG BET
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge in the following period is to showcase the potential of biowaste and biotechnologies in urban settings to wider audience and various stakeholders including but not limited to the private sector. Using sensemaking and co-design with experts on the topic, representatives of the City of Skopje and colleagues in the CO, we realize that the following interventions will make a change in the system. Moreover, the following activities are planned to be implemented in the following period:
1. Create a prototype of a souvenir from transformed biowaste coming from the everyday working of public enterprises under the jurisdiction of the City of Skopje such as the City ZOO, Parks and Greenery etc.
2. Generate open knowledge on products that could be created with C&D and biowaste combined products could be created if Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste and biowaste are combine, and identify worldwide solutions that the City of Skopje can implement in the short term
3. Engagements with the private sector on the potential of biowaste as a resource
4. Regulatory sandbox - legislation around waste management due to EU accessions and their implication to cities, with a special emphasis to the City of Skopje
5. Waste token economy – create a feasibility study and blueprint if there is potential to develop effective waste currency that will facilitate economic exchanges and stimulate environment friendly behaviour;
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
In North Macedonia’s capital Skopje, according to a UNDP Report, biowaste amounts to 46 percent of all municipal waste, most of which ends up in landfills. Today, cities produce more than 50 percent of global waste (OECD) due to inadequate waste management, higher food consumption patterns in urban areas, and a lack of composting infrastructures. With some of the interventions we did in the previous period, Skopje joined a growing number of cities bent on embracing a circular economy – making and consuming things to minimize our use of the world’s resources, cutting biowaste and reducing carbon emissions.
According to the Macedonian National Waste Management Plan (2020-2030), biowaste represents 45.3% of the total municipal waste in the City of Skopje. Today, cities produce more than 50 percent of global waste (OECD) due to inadequate waste management, higher food consumption patterns in urban areas, and a lack of composting infrastructures. The Acclab as part of the portfolio of interventions started “Re-Thinking Biowaste” and through biowaste audits found that the transformation of biowaste can open new opportunities for sustainable business models, new economic activity and innovation. Understanding the open space and through the award-winning project “BioHack My World,” UNDP AccLabs, UNICEF, and the City of Skopje established the first BioHacking Laboratory, putting Skopje on the map of cities in Eastern Europe with such state-of-the-art, open, innovative space. The BioHacking lab serves as an acceleration hub that brings science closer to the community of entrepreneurs and spark curiosity and will serve as an inspiration to a new community of entrepreneurs, young people, and civil society enthusiasts who want to pursue activities in the realm of circularity with a focus, but not limited, to bio-waste. More details about the BioHack My World Project can be read on the following storytelling webpage
With some of the interventions we did in the previous period, Skopje joined a growing number of cities bent on embracing a circular economy – making and consuming things to minimize our use of the world’s resources, cutting biowaste and reducing carbon emissions.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Beside doing our desk research, we tried to consolidate the marketing potential of biowaste coming from HORECA sector in three biowaste streams tea, coffee and citrus by implementing the first biowaste audit at a city level in the country. Additional reports can be found on the following link.
https://data.undp.org/insights/biowaste-audits-skopje
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
“Traditional “take-make-dispose” economies have devastating impacts on people and the environment. But the alternative circular economy model is widely considered to be the way forward repairing, recycling and redesigning products and systems have the potential to trigger far-reaching change and put the world on track to achieve the UN’s’ Sustainable Development Goals.
One of our early hypotheses was that with the establishment of a biohacking laboratory, we would encourage a shift in narrative and act as a system transformation initiator that would inspire young people to shift their focus of interest to STEAM research and, shortly, create economic opportunities,
including start-ups. The first challenge call for startups working with biotechnologies garnered significant attention. 44k people were reached on social media through various social media campaigns, 37 participants started the program who created 11 proof of principles or MVPs.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
Our value proposition with this learning challenge is verify whether we can transform the city authorities into a city authority that see innovation in everyday challenges such as biowaste.
With the regulatory sandbox we want to feed the CO and municipalities throughout the country on EU waste regulation that is needed to be transponded into local laws and explore what are the benefits of the process as well as open new venue for interventions.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
Biowaste can be a waste for one industry but a resource and a souvenir to another 😉
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
City of Skopje
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
The City of Skopje is a long term partner of the Acclabs and all our projects within the dynamic learning portfolio is implemented in collaboration with the City of Skopje
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Public Enterprise Drisla - Only A licensed landfill in the Country
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
The PE Drisla is the only A licensed managed landfilled in the country. Most of the municipal biowaste ends up in this landfill. The Landfill is also managing the biohacking laboratory as a innovation hub
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
Can cities become innovation powerhouses of the future? – how to drive the Ferrari “the biohacking laboratory”
Can we force a shift of the narrative about biowaste and biotechnologies with a simple innovation as the creation of a souvenir coming out of biowaste?
Can the combination of biowaste and Construction and demolition waste be a step forward in creating innovative products such as ecopawments, bio-bricks , construction materials etc
Is there a way that waste token stimulate environmentally friendly behavior?
Can Environmental protection regulation nudge cities to invest more in eco-friendly projects, especially in waste?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Sense, Explore, Grow
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Each of the innovative methods will be used in order to complete our overall intent which is less municipal biowaste in landfills.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Most of the research which we are doing with the options are breakthrough solutions not only locally but globally. We are basically building the whole system bottoms ups.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
In the next period, we will explore with the private sector if they can become early champions of the process of seeing municipal biowaste as a resource. After the successful pilot with startups, we think that the private sector can step up. With the city authorities, we will work to understand if the sparked innovative solutions and bold public sector innovation products such as the biohacking lab can reignite a collective appetite for experimentation with biowaste as a breakthrough solution for environmental challenges.
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9Industry, innovation and infrastructure
11Sustainable cities and communities
12Responsible consumption and production
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