Rethinking Implementation of Circular Solutions for Food Systems
Across rapidly expanding cities in the Global South, urban food systems are increasingly disconnected from natural nutrient cycles. While cities consume more food, they also generate large volumes of organic waste, much of which is lost to landfills instead of being returned to soils. This breakdown has turned what should be a regenerative system into an extractive one, undermining food security, livelihoods, and climate resilience. Although circular economy approaches offer a clear pathway to recover and reuse nutrients, in practice these solutions have remained fragmented, often confined to small-scale pilots that struggle to scale.
In Ghana, where nearly 60% of municipal solid waste is organic, this challenge is particularly evident. Despite multiple efforts across sectors, progress has been slowed by duplication, weak coordination, and misaligned interventions. Recognizing this, the International Water Management Institute reframed the challenge in 2023 not as a lack of innovation, but as a failure of system alignment. Instead of launching another isolated project, IWMI established the Circular Bioeconomy Innovation Hub as a partnership platform designed to bring coherence to fragmented efforts.
The Hub brings together 16 diverse co-owning institutions that pool resources, align priorities, and co-develop scalable solutions. Through a network of scaling partners, innovations are moved beyond pilot stages into real-world application. This approach transforms isolated initiatives into coordinated pathways for impact, effectively turning partnership into infrastructure for scaling.
Between 2023 and 2024, the Hub demonstrated early momentum. It mobilized over 30 technical experts, established 7 living labs to test and apply innovations, and reached more than 1,000 stakeholders through targeted capacity-building initiatives such as the Resource Recovery and Reuse (RRR) for Schools and Youth Programme. Its influence also extended into policy, with Ghana’s Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources engaging the Hub in the review of the National Environmental Sanitation Policy highlighting its emerging role as a bridge between research, practice, and governance.
By 2025, the Hub had gained both global recognition and tangible on-the-ground impact. It was featured in CGIAR’s flagship report as a decision-support platform and formalized its co-ownership model through a multi-year agreement among partners. At the community level, the RRR Schools and Youth Programme expanded to 23 schools, reaching over 15,000 students who are now actively practicing waste segregation and composting. Through school clubs and hands-on learning, students are not only adopting circular practices but also driving behavioural change within their communities, while compost produced is being reintegrated into school gardening systems.
Beyond schools, the Hub has strengthened its role as a knowledge and partnership platform, convening stakeholders across policy, technical, and private sectors through workshops, dialogues, and innovation showcases. The Hub also deepened market-oriented collaboration with partners to deliver the high-level CircularEconomy4Ghana Consultation Workshop, convening 111 stakeholders to identify priority opportunities and barriers to scale(Figure 3. These engagements are helping identify barriers and opportunities for scaling, while linking innovation to investment through initiatives such as the upcoming CircularEconomy4Ghana Innovation Challenge.
Looking ahead, the Hub is advancing a new phase focused on scaling impact. This includes transforming school-based composting into circular food systems linked to school feeding programmes, launching innovation challenges to support youth-led enterprises, and establishing practice labs for hands-on capacity development. Together, these efforts move beyond isolated interventions toward systemic transformation, embedding circular bioeconomy solutions into food systems, markets, and institutions.