The Circle Scan pinpointed a major waste stream in the Czech capital with huge untapped potential: food waste. In Prague, households consume more than 950,000 tonnes of food each year – with roughly 100,000 tonnes of domestic food and kitchen waste entering low-value recycling streams such as being burned for energy.

Prague set the ambitious goal of separating 70% of municipal waste at the source by 2035; current separation rates stand at 31%. To start, it became the first Czech city to implement household food waste collection. This is currently in the pilot phase in three districts and hopes to be city-wide by 2026.

The city also targets minimising consumer food waste habits: waste prevention is touted by city billboards, urging residents to “buy only what you eat”, and environmental campaigns are integrated into schools.

The collected food waste is converted into biogas and used to power waste management trucks. With the instalment of a large bioCNG plant planned, the city hopes to see the entire fleet of waste management trucks powered by household food waste in the future, utilising waste as a resource and cutting GHG emissions (the trucks release 58% fewer pollutants into the atmosphere than diesel-fuelled trucks).

Also, excess energy will be pumped back into the grid and excess waste transformed into fertiliser for local agricultural projects.