Recirkulering av näringsämnen mellan stad och land - vad vill gödselanvändaren ha?

Denna rapport sammanfattar resultatet av en workshop med olika sakägare kring frågan om gödselprodukter innehållande återvunnen näring från avloppsströmmar. Som underlag till workshopen har även en litteraturöversikt, intervjuer och enkäter med utvalda sakägare genomförts. Rapporten presenterar de behov sakägarna anser att dessa produkter måste eller bör uppfylla. Arbetet har genomförts gemensamt mellan den svenska näringsplattformen och forskningsprojektet End-of-Wastewater under år 2020. Svenska näringsplattformen är en plattform som samlar aktörer och kunskap inom kretslopp av näringsämnen med syfte att stödja, underlätta och överbrygga hinder för att möjliggöra en systemomställning där näringsämnena i avloppsströmmar är en del av ett rent kretslopp i synergi med de globala hållbarhetsmålen (https://www.ri.se/sv/svenskanaringsplattformen). Projektet End-of-Wastewater handlar om att utforska och sprida kunskap kring hur samhället kan ställa om till att hålla näringsämnen, såsom kväve och fosfor, men även kol i rena kretslopp. Omställningen syftar på att ansvarsfullt länka samman organiska restflöden från mänskliga samhällen till nyproduktion av grödor på jordbruksmark. I denna omställning finns diverse aktörer som redan är eller bör vara delaktiga för att skapa ett kretslopp. Projektet kommer att utveckla ett interaktivt verktyg för att stötta dessa aktörer med att hitta, navigera bland och förstå den gedigna evidensbaserade forskning som finns inom området för innovativa och hållbara lösningar (http://www.endofwastewater.net/)

Pandemic gardening:A narrative review, vignettes and implications for future research

There is a significant amount of evidence highlighting the health, wellbeing and social benefits of gardening during previous periods of crises. These benefits were also evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents a narrative review exploring gardening during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the different forms of gardening that took place during this crisis and key elements of this activity. Research about gardening during the pandemic focused on food (in)security and disrupted food systems, the health and wellbeing benefits of gardening, and the social dimensions of gardening. We offer three vignettes of our own research to highlight key insights from local, national and international perspectives of gardening during the pandemic. The paper's conclusion outlines how researchers, policy makers and public health practitioners can harness what has been learned from gardening during the pandemic to ensure these benefits are more widely available and do not exacerbate already entrenched health inequalities in society.</p

Pandemic gardening: A narrative review, vignettes and implications for future research

There is a significant amount of evidence highlighting the health, wellbeing and social benefits of gardening during previous periods of crises. These benefits were also evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents a narrative review exploring gardening during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the different forms of gardening that took place during this crisis and key elements of this activity. Research about gardening during the pandemic focused on food (in)security and disrupted food systems, the health and wellbeing benefits of gardening, and the social dimensions of gardening. We offer three vignettes of our own research to highlight key insights from local, national and international perspectives of gardening during the pandemic. The paper’s conclusion outlines how researchers, policy makers and public health practitioners can harness what has been learned from gardening during the pandemic to ensure these benefits are more widely available and do not exacerbate already entrenched health inequalities in society

Pandemic gardening: A narrative review, vignettes and implications for future research

There is a significant amount of evidence highlighting the health, wellbeing and social benefits of gardening during previous periods of crises. These benefits were also evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents a narrative review exploring gardening during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the different forms of gardening that took place during this crisis and key elements of this activity. Research about gardening during the pandemic focused on food (in)security and disrupted food systems, the health and wellbeing benefits of gardening, and the social dimensions of gardening. We offer three vignettes of our own research to highlight key insights from local, national and international perspectives of gardening during the pandemic. The paper’s conclusion outlines how researchers, policy makers and public health practitioners can harness what has been learned from gardening during the pandemic to ensure these benefits are more widely available and do not exacerbate already entrenched health inequalities in society

Acceptance of human excreta derived fertilizers in Swedish grocery stores

Safe recycling of nutrients found in human excreta back to agriculture is an important component of a circular economy that can protect waterways and stabilize food prices. Although many technological advances for the recovery of these nutrients exist, large-scale implementation is lacking. A commonly cited barrier is a lack of acceptance of fertilizers from human excreta and for food products grown with such fertilizers. The food retail sector, as an intermediary between producers and consumers, is an important actor with power to influence opinions and purchasing practices. In this study, we surveyed 127 food retailers (stores) and reviewed publicly available retailer sustainability policies to assess acceptance of the use of recycled fertilizers. We gauged acceptance of three products relevant for the Swedish market – struvite, phosphorus from ash, and dehydrated urine. Most respondents felt that all three recovery techniques were unlikely to be harmful either to themselves or to the environment. It was more acceptable to use products further away from human consumption. In general, struvite and phosphorus from ash were perceived more positively. Acceptance of wastewater-derived fertilizers was largely dependent on perceived risks, especially the fate of pharmaceutical residues. While retailers in Sweden are not negative to reuse, they seem unlikely to provide strong support for nutrient recirculation from human excreta unless it becomes a greater concern for the public

Phosphorus Cycling in Montreal’s Food and Urban Agriculture Systems

<div><p>Cities are a key system in anthropogenic phosphorus (P) cycling because they concentrate both P demand and waste production. Urban agriculture (UA) has been proposed as a means to improve P management by recycling cities’ P-rich waste back into local food production. However, we have a limited understanding of the role UA currently plays in the P cycle of cities or its potential to recycle local P waste. Using existing data combined with surveys of local UA practitioners, we quantified the role of UA in the P cycle of Montreal, Canada to explore the potential for UA to recycle local P waste. We also used existing data to complete a substance flow analysis of P flows in the overall food system of Montreal. In 2012, Montreal imported 3.5 Gg of P in food, of which 2.63 Gg ultimately accumulated in landfills, 0.36 Gg were discharged to local waters, and only 0.09 Gg were recycled through composting. We found that UA is only a small sub-system in the overall P cycle of the city, contributing just 0.44% of the P consumed as food in the city. However, within the UA system, the rate of recycling is high: 73% of inputs applied to soil were from recycled sources. While a Quebec mandate to recycle 100% of all organic waste by 2020 might increase the role of UA in P recycling, the area of land in UA is too small to accommodate all P waste produced on the island. UA may, however, be a valuable pathway to improve urban P sustainability by acting as an activity that changes residents’ relationship to, and understanding of, the food system and increases their acceptance of composting.</p></div

Data sources for Montreal food system P budget.

<p>We did not include runoff and erosion losses, or P lost in storm events due to wastewater treatment plant limited capacity to treat the high volume of water produced during these storm events because of a lack of data.</p><p>Data sources for Montreal food system P budget.</p

Montreal island geographical situation and land uses.

<p>The island of Montreal is aproximately 38% residential, 12% green space, 14% vacant lots, and 18% industrial and commercial land uses. Residential land-use includes high, medium, and low density housing, commercial land use includes malls, service-industry buildings, and business district, Industry and other land use includes light and heavy industry, quarries, public and education institutions, landfills, and service utility areas, Parks and other green space land use includes golf courses, cemeteries, regional and city parks, natural reserves, and rural sites [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0120726#pone.0120726.ref023" target="_blank">23</a>]. Municipalities and borough limits are indicated by the black administrative boundaries.</p

Current and potential future role of urban agriculture (UA) in Montreal P cycling.

<p>Two scenarios are visually represented in terms of amount of P waste produced, recycled, and the amount of corresponding land in UA production required. Panel A represents current state of P in food and green waste, the amount of UA, and the area necessary to recycle all that waste through UA. The amount of P in food and green waste is represented by the grey square on the top left, the small white square represents the proportional amount of the P wasted that is currently recycled, represents that estimated amount of P recycled through UA. The grey circle represents Montreal island area, and the green circle the proportional area of the island under UA production. The large red circle illustrates the area of UA necessary to recycle all P waste produced (317% bigger than the island) is P application is equal to P harvest and all P application is from recycled sources. Panel B illustrates the area of UA required (186% bigger than the island, represented as the red circle) if Montreal produces 50% less P as food and green waste (all symbols are proportional in size to those in Panel A).</p

Towards net-zero phosphorus cities

Cities are central to improving natural resource management globally. Instead of reinventing the wheel for each interlinked sustainability priority, we suggest synergising with, and learning from existing net-zero carbon initiatives to explicitly tackle another vital element: phosphorus. To achieve net-zero phosphorus actors must work together to (1) minimise loss flows out of the city, (2) maximise recycling flows from the city to agricultural lands, and (3) minimise the need for phosphorus in food production