When side streams met new ideas on Gotland
What happens when food companies, researchers, and local innovation actors sit down in the same room and talk, not about abstract sustainability goals, but about real leftovers, side streams and missed opportunities?
On 11 May, PLENTY brought that question to Gotland.
Together with Gotland G
rönt Centrum, Matbyrån Gotland, Science Park Gotland and Axfoundation, PLENTY gathered seven companies from across the island’s food system. Around the table were actors working with eggs, carrots, slaughter by-products, hemp, retail food waste, and meals served on ferries. The aim was simple: to understand what is already there, what is currently lost, and what might be possible if these flows were treated as valuable resources rather than waste.
The day began with mapping. One by one, participants described the side streams they deal with today, how they are handled, what volumes they involve, and what gets in the way of using them differently. The picture that emerged was familiar yet striking. Large volumes of edible or otherwise usable material are currently either lost or directed to biogas or animal feed, often because other uses are difficult to implement in practice due to barriers around ownership, logistics, processing, demand, and scale.
From problem to solutions
Once the side streams were visible, the conversation moved from simply describing problems to exploring new possibilities and opportunities. In smaller groups, participants began sketching concrete product ideas and new value chains. Ideas ranged from novel food concepts and blended ingredients to go-to-market ideas and creative use of existing equipment. No part of the system was left untouched.
What stood out was not just the ideas themselves, but how quickly people started building on each other’s reality. Not with grand claims, but with practical questions: Who could make this? Who would buy it? What would it take? What is missing?
For Annelise de Jong from PLENTY, that was exactly the point.
“We wanted to create a space where research could meet real materials, real companies, and real constraints. That is when it becomes possible to move from a general idea about circularity to something that could actually be tried.”
The workshop did not solve everything. If anything, it made clear how much work remains between a promising idea and a product that can succeed on the market shelf. Questions of ownership, product development, incentives, and coordination still need to be addressed.
From Ideas to Further Collaborative Action
But it also revealed something equally important: people want to keep working together.
“There was a real openness in the room,” says Annelise de Jong. “People were generous with their knowledge, honest about the obstacles, and still willing to imagine something different together. That matters.”
That is also why these collaborations matter for PLENTY. The center is not only studying circular food systems from a distance. It is trying to understand what it takes to make change happen in practice, with industry, not alongside it.
The next step is now taking shape. A smaller group will meet again in June to look at the most promising ideas, clarify roles and ownership, and decide what should be tested further, both in practice and through research.
One meeting or workshop is not enough to change a food system. But it is enough to begin.
