Smart & Close — Circular Data Challenge

We need your ideas and solutions addressing the following specific circular challenges. 

Challenge 1: How can we ensure a better waste separation?

Waste separation is a keystone when it comes to ensuring the recycling of our waste. With our current waste separation system, sorting waste starts when choosing which garbage bin or container you throw your waste into. In order to ensure efficient recycling process, waste must be as “clean” as possible, as food and other residual materials can damage the recycled material. (e.g it is difficult to recycle a pizza carton box if there are food leftovers). Hence, it is important to choose the right waste option when segregating garbage.

The better the waste is sorted, the more diverse trash containers are needed in spaces such as kitchens, backyards, or public spaces, and the more sorting is required by the citizens. In addition, many cities with high urban density, don’t have enough physical space to sort and separate all the waste thoroughly.

 There is no doubt about the great value citizens create when segregating the waste they produce, as many climate-damaging materials are sorted for recycling or reuse instead of being incinerated. However, in order to improve waste management, new technology and solutions for sorting, collecting and treating household waste may need to be introduced.

For example, in Copenhagen, all citizens must have access to waste sorting systems, including remote waste groups such as textiles and food containers made out of cardboard, however, those new sorting/collection solutions should not take up more physical space in the city – but rather, they should reduce the area containers occupy.

 Therefore, there is great potential in investigating how the use of data can help create circular solutions in the following areas:

How can we ensure better waste segregation systems that improve sorting and recycling process, and also contributes to reducing the physical space they take?

 Inspiration to available data sources: 

• Affaldsanalyse (Aarhus Kommune) ("Data analysis from 10 buried waste containers")
  The information on this document complies an analysis on 10 buried/underground containers located in Århus, which represents a snapshot on how much and what type of waste is being generated the most. In addition, the data is generated every 7 days, as the containers get emptied once a week. The data includes: ID, household size, sorted waste type & registered quantities/ volume.
   
• Affaldskurve i København
• Restaffaldsanalysen 2016 (Københavns Kommune) ("Instruments and scenarios for increased recycling in Copenhagen")
  This document presents a study on the total recycling rates and the recycling of individual waste types in some Cities in Europe.The Copenhagen Municipality's Resource and Waste Plan 2018 aims to achieve 45% recycling of household waste in 2018 and the amount of waste incinerated in 2018 decreased by 20% compared to 2010.In addition, the  study has looked at both the total recycling rate of cities and the recycling of individual waste types. The study shows, that there is a connection between high recycling results and a structured bio-waste collection system. Finally, the survey indicates the intensive, well-sustained communication and education  result on high level of recycling levels.
   

Challenge 2: How can we reduce resource consumption in construction?

The construction field is inherently considered a resource-intensive area that accounts for a significant part of the world's resource consumption. However, only a small proportion of the materials from building activities are being recycled and reused today.

In addition, some materials such as concrete, not only take a great amount of resources to produce but also it is also very difficult to recycle. This is because it can be hard to distinguish what type of materials have been employed. For example: concrete, cement and sand are difficult to differentiate and hence re-purpose for a new cause, as a functional system for categorization doesn’t yet exist.

 In all new constructions, a large amount of data on the material composition of buildings is already compiled. This kind of material composition data has great potential for recycling processes, but it is not fully utilized and it doesn’t exist for older buildings. Therefore, there is great untapped potential in finding out how the use of data can help create circular solutions that reduce the use of resources in construction:

How can we reduce the resources used when constructing buildings and make sure less materials are wasted?

Inspiration to available data sources:

• Udredning af teknologiske muligheder for at genbruge og genanvende beton (Miljøstyrelsen) (“Investigation of technological opportunities to recycle and recycle concrete”)
  Concrete represents a significant proportion of the total amount of construction waste in Denmark, and over 90% of the concrete waste is currently recycled.
  The current practice of recycling takes place at crushing and use of the concrete as unbound support layers in Danish roads, squares and for filling where the concrete replaces natural stable gravel material or soil.
  The report describes current practices for recycling concrete waste and it also examines alternative options for recycling and reusing concrete by looking at examples from both home and abroad. It also point the following conclusions: 
  - Amount of concrete waste. There is no precise estimate of how much concrete waste is generated each year in Denmark, as not all concrete waste is registered. Hence, the actual amount of concrete waste is estimated in the industry to be twice as large as the registered one, ie. about 2 million tonnes annually.
  - Origin of concrete waste. The origin of the concrete waste is not always known and today there is no systematic separation of concrete waste streams with the same technical qualities.
  - The use of concrete waste. Concrete waste is crushed and mainly used as unbound support layer in roads and squares and as filling in major construction projects. 
  - Only a limited proportion is used in state roads. The use of crushed concrete as a supplement to new concrete does not occur in Denmark, but is more widespread in other countries.
  - Classification of concrete waste. There are no limits  for contaminated building and construction waste. Several actors see a need on being able to differentiate through diverse assessments the technological and environmental  possibilities for recycling and reusing of concrete. In addition, there is a clear need for transferring knowledge through the whole cement supply chain, in order to explore new potential ways of recycling or reusing cement.
• Københavnerkortet (fx igangværende anlægsarbejder, Københavns Kommune) (“The Copenhagen Map (ongoing construction work, the City of Copenhagen)”
  This map shows in real time, the construction projects taking place in the city of Copenhagen.

Challenge 3: How can we make better use of public buildings?

A municipality is often responsible for a wide range of properties such as; town halls, schools, offices, libraries, swimming pools and many other buildings with a diverse types of facilities such as meeting rooms, kitchens, auditoriums etc. Many of these facilities are often unused for much of the day and on the weekends.

 Municipalities tend to use a lot of resources on e.g. heating and maintaining properties. However, there is a significant risk of waste when actively maintaining old buildings, as activities such as changing and adjusting temperature, in-door climate, and many other predictable and unpredictable factors, are not easy to regulate, and these spaces would be better utilised if they were in continuous use.  

Therefore, there is great potential in finding out how the use of data can help create circular solutions that utilize smarter municipal buildings:

How can the public make a better use of municipal buildings?

Inspiration to available data sources:

• Relevante data fra Aarhus Kommune bl.a. bruttoarealer, forbrugstal og bygningsrapport (“Buildings, venues and facilities report from Århus municipality”) 
  This report compiles a list of the buildings that Århus municipality is responsible for. In addition, the document shows relevant facility management data including: square meters, energy consumption, etc. 
• Kloge Kommunale Kvadratmeter ("FM3: Facility Management and Facility Services for municipalities”)
  FM3 is a consultant firm specialised is giving advice to municipalities on space optimization.  (www.fm3.dk)
• Københavns Ejendomme

Challenge 4: How can we reduce the waste of energy and heat surplus?

There is a big difference between when most renewable energy is produced and when most electricity is consumed in Denmark. Danes use most electricity power between 17:00 and 20:00 hrs. Unfortunately, these time slots do not overlap with the time when solar cells deliver the most power.

The excess of energy/electricity from private solar cells is therefore most often fed back into the electricity grid and sold. Thanks to great advances in battery technology, it is becoming more and more common to set up batteries that can store the excess energy from solar cells. However, it is usually up to the individual household to set up a battery.

In many places in the industry, heat is a by-product of production. Although heat can be employed internally within the company or sold to the district heating system, it is rarely fully utilized.

Therefore, there is great potential in finding out how the use of data can help create circular solutions that can reduce the waste of energy and heat surplus.

How can we reduce the waste of energy and heat surplus?

 Inspiration to available data sources: 

• Energi Data Service (Energinet) “Energy data service webpage”. Energi Data Service is a free and open data portal. Here, anyone can get data about the Danish energy system such as CO2 emissions and consumption and production data. Whether you are a consumer, entrepreneur, research scientist or business, Energi Data Service makes data available that allow you to broaden your understanding of the Danish energy system and develop new services to benefit society in general and the green transition). 
• Solcelleanlæg (Aarhus Kommune)
• Fiktiv bygningsmasse (Københavns Kommune) (“Fictional building stock report by Municipality of Copenhagen") 
  The data is based on theoretical hot data from SBI and the Danish Energy Agency, which are linked to all buildings in the City of Copenhagen. This means that the first level of mapping is about to be completed. It is therefore interesting to get outsiders' views on the data, as new ideas and solutions may come out of such an interaction.
  The report divided the data mapping into three different categories: 1. Location, 2. Heating and building information 3. Energy label. The categories ensure that the data retains credibility in relation to methods and results. E.g. Artillerivej could suddenly be located in Østerbro and a smaller garage could have a very large heat consumption.
• Energiforbug (Københavns Kommune) ("Energy consumption by the Municipality of Copenhagen”) 
  The document shows how much energy use the buildings under the Municipality of Copenhagen. 

   

Challenge 5: How can we reduce the use of single-use plastic items?

It is not news that single-use products such as plastic cutlery, disposable cups and packaging, have a large number of negative consequences, such as pollution, separation and proliferation of microplastics that very regularly land on nature. 

More often than not, these products are used because it is the most convenient option for consumers. For example: many cups of coffee are served in single-use cups every day. This happens when you are on the go, but also in many workplaces, where employees don't have easy access to glass or porcelain dishes at their offices. 

However, there is great value in finding out how the use of data can help create circular solutions that reduce the consumption of single-use products:

 How can we reduce the use of single-use plastic items?

Inspiration to available data sources: 

• Plastic Change (liste over udvalgte rapporter) Plastic Change has made a list of reports regarding plastic consumption and negative impact. Some of the reports suggest how to make plastic a circular solution. 
• Restaffaldsanalysen 2016 (Københavns Kommune) (“Residual waste analysis 2016 conducted by the Municipality of Copenhagen”)
  The purpose of this study was to identify and assess instruments that can contribute to the collection of increased amounts of recyclable materials from household waste, corresponding to the 15,000 tonnes that a biowaste collection is expected to contribute.
• Forsøg med indsamling af kartoner og pizzabakker (Københavns Kommune) (“Cardboard collection by the Municipality of Copenhagen” 
  Cases and experiments compilation regarding the collection of milk cartons and pizza cardboards. 
• Engangsservice (Århus Kommune)  (“Single-use plastic products by Århus Municipality”)
  An annual report that specifically indicates the amount of single use plastic items the Municipality of Århus consumes each year. Yearly costs are also included. 

Challenge 6:  How can we avoid that materials surplus from production goes to waste?

When we talk about “material flow”, we refer to the goods that are transported from and to municipalities by different companies. Most of the time, it is very challenging for municipalities to keep an overview of how these material flows can be repurposed, due to the great amount of resources surplus companies end up with such as: wood, textiles, rubber, furniture; etc. 

In some places, the materials surplus is transported to a physical warehouse where they can be offered to the public, however, this approach can be time and resource consuming.

Therefore, there is great potential in finding out how the use of data can help create circular solutions that reduce the waste of material surplus from production:

How can we contribute to an easier redistribution system of materials surplus that can be more accessible to citizens and business? 

Inspiration to available data sources: 

• Genbrugsstationer (Vejle Kommune) (“Recycling stations by the Municipality of Vejle”)
  This data displays the locations of the diverse recycling stations in the Municipality of Vejle, indicating addresses, opening hours, etc.
• Modtagere af malingsrester (Frederiksberg Kommune) “Recipients of paint residue by the Municipality of Frederiksberg”
  The data contains a map of the actual paint stores that are currently receiving painting leftovers from people who have a surplus after making use of it.

Challenge 7: How can we create local anchored tourism while having responsible resource consumption at the Danish municipalities?

Tourism is one of the world's largest sectors, as the number of international tourists has been steadily increasing since 2010. Today, tourism is an important part of the Danish economy, since it significantly contributes to the growth of the hospitality industry across the country; however, the steady development has also ramped the consumption of resources.

Although international and Danish tourists tend to normally visit large cities, tourism allocated in less conventional places such as smaller Danish islands, have experienced great development in the past years. This trend has become problematic for locals as most of these “unspoiled places” are not equipped to cope with the heavy load of visitors during high seasons. The latter creates new demands to local areas, which have never had to deal with such a large wave of tourists before. Even though tourism is increasingly developing, there is also a growing concern for the conservation of nature and the environment, as local destinations find difficult to transmit it to the large numbers of incoming tourists.

Thus, there is a great circular potential in finding out how the use of data can help create locally rooted tourism that takes into account the environment, the economy and the socio-cultural conditions of the destination: 

How can we create local anchored tourism while having responsible resource consumption at the Danish municipalities?

Inspiration to available data sources: 

• Faglig rapport om hensigtsmæssig adfærd i Nationalpark Vadehavet
• Bæredygtig turisme i Destination - Verdensarv Vadehavet
• Udviklingsplan for Vestkysten – En fælles ambition for turismen frem mod 2025
•  Fredning af natur på Fanø fra Danmarks Naturfredningsforening

Indsendte ideer vurderes ud fra fire kriterier. De fem ideer, der vurderes at leve bedst op til udvælgelseskriterierne inviteres til at pitche deres ide for Smart & Close juryen d. 10. december i Albertslund. Juryen vil dernæst udvælge to vindere baseret på deres pitch.

Udvælgelseskriterierne er:

Værdiskabelse
Hvilken værdi skaber ideen for borgere, virksomheder og samfundet? Ideens værdiskabelse vurderes ud fra mere end blot økonomisk værdi.

Realiserbarhed
Hvordan skal ideen realiseres? Realiserbarhed er ikke et spørgsmål om, hvor nemt ideen kan realiseres, men i stedet at tage højde for hvordan ideen kan realiseres. Realiserbarhed hænger derfor også nært sammen med, i hvor høj grad der er taget stilling til adgangen til data.

Cirkularitet
Hvordan bidrager ideen til en øget cirkularitet i kommunen? Med dette menes der, i hvor høj grad ideen formår at fremme en mere cirkulær økonomi (se spørgsmålet 'Hvordan forstås cirkulær økonomi?'). 

Innovationshøjde
Hvor nyskabende er ideen? Ideens innovationshøjde vurderes ud fra, i hvor høj grad ideen præsenterer en nytænkende tilgang til udfordringen.

Juryen for Smart & Close anonceres snarest. 

Hvem kan deltage?
Alle har som udgangspunkt mulighed for at deltage i Smart & Close. Det forventes at alle deltagere i konkurrencen har mulighed for fysisk at deltage i kåringseventet d. 10. december i Albertslund i forbindelse med Gate21 konferencen Smart City 2019.

Hvordan deltager man?
For at indsende en ide skal man først oprette en gratis bruger på challenges.dk, hvorefter man har mulighed for at indsende en idé til Smart & Close såvel som til andre challenges. Som led i idebeskrivelsen bedes man redegøre for:

• Hvilken udfordring ideen løser
• Hvordan ideen løser udfordringen
• Hvilke data ideen bygger på (allerede eksisterende- og/eller nye data)
• Hvordan ideen kan bidrage til øget cirkularitet
• Hvem nøgleaktørerne er samt hvilken værdi og hvilke barrierer de hver især oplever
• Hvilken værdi ideen skaber for borgere, virksomheder og samfund

Derudover opfordres deltagere til at vedlægge (valgfrit):

• Link til video-pitch (maks. 2 minutter)
• Billede af system map (se spørgsmålet ‘Hvad er en system mapping?’). 

Hvilke data kan man bruge?
Der er ingen krav til hvilken form for data, der indgår i løsningsforslaget. Som deltager opfordres man til at gå på opdagelse i de åbne danske dataregistre gennem Open Data DK, men det er ikke et krav at data allerede eksisterer eller har en særlig form. Kvalitative data, sensordata eller andre former for data kan også indgå i ideen.

Bemærk dog at tilgængeligheden af data indgår som led i vurderingen af ideens realiserbarhed (se spørgsmålet 'Hvad er udvælgelseskriterierne?').

Hvad er en system mapping?
System mapping er en visuel metode, der kan hjælpe med at kortlægge de vigtige aktører og forbindelser i et ‘system’. I Smart & Close kan ‘systemet’ ses som et kort over økosystemet omkring ideen; hvem bruger den, hvilke data bygger den på, hvori består det cirkulære etc. Ved at lave et visuelt kort over, hvordan de forskellige elementer hænger sammen, er det muligt at fremhæve systemets strømme (fx viden, penge, materialer eller data) og identificere svagheder og potentialer. Cirkulære løsninger bliver nemt komplekse, så et visuelt overblik kan ofte være til stor hjælp.

Dansk Design Center har udviklet et gratis system mapping værktøj kaldet “Data Ecosystem Mapping”, som man selv kan printe, klippe ud og anvende til opgaven. Når man arbejder med fysiske brikker, kan kortlægningen bruges som en udforskning af problemet og til at identificere potentielle løsninger. Arbejder man i grupper er kortlægningen af systemet et værdifuldt værktøj til at sikre, at alle forstår både problem og løsning på samme måde.

Data Ecosystem Mapping findes under bilag.
 

Der er mange definitioner på cirkulær økonomi. Smart & Close lægger op til, at deltagerne forholder sig til Europa Parlamentets definition:

En cirkulær økonomi er en model for forbrug og produktion, hvor produkters livscyklus er udvidet, primært takket være:

• Bedre miljøvenligt design, der gør det nemmere at reparere, genbruge og reproducere gamle produkter
• Forbedret holdbarhed
• Bedre affaldshåndtering
• Nye forretningsmodeller baseret på leasing, deling, reparation og genbrug