FoodLoop takes on two seemingly disparate issues:

Biodegradable waste. In landfill biodegradable waste causes methane, a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. In fact, landfill sites are responsible for an estimated 3% of UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Although about 50% of some inner city boroughs are comprised of flats, many councils still struggle to carry out waste separation in anything but single dwellings.

Homelessness. About 20,000 people live in temporary accommodation for homeless people in London. Organisations such as St.Mungo’s and Thames Reach help homeless people reintegrate into mainstream society through securing permanent accommodation as well as meaningful and dignified employment. But because of the acute social needs of many of their service users, of the 79% who want to return to work, only 7% actually manage.

FoodLoop is a design-led social enterprise that addresses both these issues. It offers local authorities a blueprint system for localised composting of biodegradable waste on housing estates. A specially designed community composting machine, The Rocket Composter, is installed on each estate and managed by local formerly homeless residents. As well as dealing with waste collection and management, they will also learn gardening and landscaping skills, using the compost to cultivate fruit and vegetable plants on communal areas of the estate.

Co-design processes will be used to find ways of getting maximum buy-in from staff and residents in the whole process. Workshops with staff and residents will help create waste separation and collection systems best suited to their needs, and will generate ideas for the design of new green spaces on the estate to improve their sense of community.

The purpose of FoodLoop is three-fold:
  • To create compost from waste, successfully diverting food waste from inner-city flats from landfill by giving residents direct experience of the issues and offering them a functional system for managing it;
  • To green the estates, transforming the unused and often wasted spaces of inner city council housing into rich and flourishing social and agricultural spaces;
  • To nurture self respect and well-being, by offering meaningful training and employment for formerly homeless people in their immediate community.

Click here to learn more about the progress of the FoodLoop project on Maiden Lane Housing Estate in Camden and to read our blog.