Iot-Sensor-Equipped Food Waste Bio-Composter to Households and to Advance Egovernment in Municipality Authorities' Waste Management Practices

Abstract

Background: Finnish policymakers issued a new community waste law in 2022, that aims to increase household food waste recycling. The municipalities have launched the implementation of the waste law and are responsible for supervising the development of this new project. Problem: The implementation and supervision of the waste law increases authorities' workload and also public costs. Public servants manage the households’ compost register and carry out compost audits on-site. Challenge: The challenge is to put in place the new waste management law at the lowest public cost. Purpose: The research addresses the validation of a pioneering IT solution that supports and advances households' bio composting and aims to ease waste management authorities’ workload by fostering eGovernment. Methods: The intervention consists in delivering the IoT-sensor-equipped bio-composter and associated applications. The research adopts a mission-oriented approach, and establishes a place-based, multi-actor, participatory, and open innovation testbed at Living Lab. It leverages the Lean Startup process and SWOT analysis. The research method complies with the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation. Conclusions: The IoT-sensor-equipped bio-composter is a feasible solution. Municipality waste management authorities do not regard/consider the IoT-sensor-equipped solution as beneficial from their perspective. The eGovernment strategy is not a driver in this case since bio-composter mapping and monitoring could be a future tool for real estate maintenance companies.