How do we tackle the major environmental challenges? One way to promote disruptive solutions is to initiate innovation competitions.

This competition is based on the problematic flow of plastic packaging, combined with the function of packaging in relation to food. We started from the challenge: How do we protect, transport, and communicate food in the future? And how do we do this while managing all other resources well? If we look at the Sustainable Development Goals, this challenge covers more than half of them.

The Swedish EPA, together with the strategic innovation programme RE:Source, has been running the competition with two teams. Each team has individuals with different skills and the team members represent both the public and private sectors. Both teams solutions and contributions are based on a more regional food supply and solutions that allow us to reduce the amount of plastic, packaging, and transport. 

The winning entry is a conversion tool describing the principles for sustainable production and consumption of food at various levels. These levels cover the individual as a member of society, the local community, the region, and a national application.

The important work of turning the solutions into a reality remains. Future application of the results can include a collaboration with Vinnova and the National Food Administration on their mission “Nutrition and health” and on “A new recipe for sustainable school food”. The participants have taken back different parts of their work in the competition to their organisations and some have started collaborating in smaller constellations after the competition.