1. Organic waste, recycling and innovation
Fulvio Castellacci
TIK & ESST Master
University of Oslo, February 2016

2. Background and questions
Growing interest in the “bio-economy” and the “circular economy”
Waste from consumption and production activities can be transformed into a new resource (material, energy) if appropriate technologies are in place
However, the emergence and large-scale diffusion of these innovations do not only depend on technological possibilities, but they are largely shaped by a set of economic market conditions as well as political framework and support

3. Project framework and objectives
A new project coordinated by NIFU and funded by the Norwegian Research Council ( ). [Project webpage]
Partners: TIK(UiO); Østfold Research; Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute (NFLI); Centre for Innovation Research (CIR, Stavanger); CIRCLE (Lund University); Technical University of Denmark
The objective of this project is to investigate the potential for value added and improved sustainability in the valorisation of organic waste streams, residual feedstock and by-products – by analysing value chains inside and across different sectors of the bioeconomy

4. Themes of interest for Master students
Mapping (WP1): provide an overall system overview of the circular bioeconomy, analyse existing visions, setting up and comparing alternative policy scenarios and conduct a foresight study on feasible development scenarios and value chains (document analysis and foresight methods)
Cases (WP2): focus on one or more selected cases, and study how the existing value chains for bio-based products influence the sustainable value creation from OW streams in Norway (case studies, interviews with firms)
Policy (WP5): study the process of policy formulation and implementation for organic waste at different levels and sectors of governance (document analysis and interviews with stakeholders)

5. Contact persons and possible supervisors
At TIK: Olav Wicken; Arne Fevolden; Valentina Elena Tartiu
At NIFU: Antje Klitkou; Markus Bugge
A supervisor will be assigned by TIK depending on your thematic interests and available resources