What fundamental problem are you addressing?
With the Zukunftstauglich10 association, we promote knowledge and practice around canning — with numerous successful workshops at the Stadtgärtnerei in Zurich, rentable kitchens (e.g. kitchenette in the Basel market hall) and districts. However, despite high demand, it has not yet been possible to scale these activities. Again and again, we are faced with the same structural hurdles: The costs for the actors involved are high, particularly due to logistics. Vegetables, herbs and other canning ingredients must be brought from various locations to a central kitchen. After the workshop, equipment, residual food and green waste will have to be transported back. A three-hour canning workshop thus results in a total effort of up to eight hours — not affordable for many potential multipliers over a longer period of time.
On the other hand, many food producers, including allotment gardeners, farms (including Solawi Plankton, Birmatterhof), gardening associations, balcony gardeners and food distributors of residual food stocks (Swiss food bank, table cover yourself, Circunis), face the challenge of ripe food being produced in large quantities (e.g. zucchini glues, pumpkin glues), but cannot be fully recycled. Especially during harvest times, a significant proportion of fruits, vegetables or herbs remain unused — for example due to time overlaps (summer vacation at the time of summer vegetables), complex processing or lack of know-how. These unused resources lead to avoidable food waste, which in turn contributes to the generation of greenhouse gases and has ecological and economic consequences.
In addition, the demand from food users — for example in community catering, in solidarity farms or in social institutions — for locally produced, seasonal food is growing.
The current structure of our food processing system is not sufficiently designed to efficiently process and pass on temporary surpluses. The biggest barrier lies in separating the place where food is produced and where it is processed. Existing stationary solutions are too inflexible to react to spontaneous harvest peaks or short-term cooperation opportunities. There is a lack of decentralized, low-threshold and flexible infrastructures that enable the use of seasonal food surpluses — particularly at local level.
This is exactly where our new project approach comes in: With Emergency preserving mobile — a mobile canning kitchen based on a cargo bike — we bring the processing to where food is produced. The canning mobile allows us to react specifically to situations with acute surpluses and enables spontaneous, low-threshold assignments directly on site.
This allows “canning professionals” to flexibly travel to different locations and tap into new target groups for “preserving food” that is outside the “anti-food waste bubble.” This new approach is another targeted attempt to scale our activities. It is deliberately aimed at actors with little planning security — for example in solidarity agriculture, community gardens or in urban environments. The canning mobile therefore offers a practical and effective solution: Instead of bringing all ingredients, devices and participants to a central location, the mobile kitchen goes to where the food is grown anyway — be it in the garden, in the field, in the neighborhood or on a courtyard. This reduces transport routes, saves time, makes organization easier and increases flexibility for actors, multipliers and participants alike.
Scientific support from the FHNW (Institute for Market Offers and Consumer Decisions) evaluates the potential of the project for broad implementation. The aim is to develop a locally adaptable and decentrally scalable model that can represent different forms of participation — from solidarity to economic — and expands the range of target groups. The combination of practical application and scientific reflection strengthens the effectiveness of the project and makes it possible to establish a sustainable circular economy as an integral part of our food system.
Which habits would you like to change or mainstream through which approach?
The “Emergency preserving mobile” project aims to change everyday routines in handling food — in particular the widespread practice of throwing away excess food and side streams (e.g. potato peels or radish leaves). Instead, preservation through traditional techniques such as fermentation, canning and drying should become part of everyday life again. These methods have a long tradition, are ecologically sound and make it possible to transform surpluses of food into storable, flavored and nutritionally valuable products. In doing so, they contribute to reducing food waste, promoting the appreciation of regional and seasonal foods and opening up new taste experiences — completing the cycle from cultivation to serving.
The emergency canning mobile imparts this knowledge as part of workshops directly on site — low-threshold, practical and close to everyday life. It is aimed at various stakeholders from suppliers: from private gardeners to solidarity farms and catering businesses. Thanks to its mobility, the emergency canning mobile can respond flexibly to the respective needs and contexts of the suppliers. Participants learn to transfer these skills to their everyday lives and to pass them on to others (multiplication). The aim of mobility and local deployments, where food surpluses occur, is to reach and commit further target groups.
Knowledge is disseminated and consolidated through targeted training (multiplier training). Processing follows different models — based on solidarity, partial solidarity or economic — and allows processed products both to be returned to the original suppliers and to sell them via sales markets (e.g. communal catering). Customers can benefit from regional and healthy products that have a longer shelf life.
The project promotes a more conscious, resource-saving use of food as a new social norm. It combines old knowledge with modern formats and thus contributes to the transformation of the food system towards more circular thinking, regionality and sustainability.
What would you like to work on during the booster?
During the booster, the concept of the emergency canning mobile should be specified, prototypical be implemented and investigated with regard to its potential for wider application. The prototype is based on the principle of modularity. It is therefore made up of repeating elements. The individual modules can be adapted to specific conditions and can be individually configured. Standardised elements are used for the modules, which always have the same dimensions, such as substructures of catering kitchens. Thanks to this principle, large quantities can be produced cheaply and thus scaling can be achieved.
The scientific support team evaluates the effectiveness of the approach and identifies conditions under which the model can be successfully scaled. The aim is to develop a scalable model that represents different forms of participation — from solidarity to economic — and expands the circle of interested parties who actively participate in reducing food waste.
By combining practical application and scientific reflection, the aim is to show how sustainable circular economy can be established as an integral part of the food system.
Key research questions include:
- Under what conditions are suppliers prepared to provide surplus food for further processing? How can they be called upon to participate? What are the drivers and barriers for donating fresh food?
- Which local target groups can be motivated to use the emergency preserving mobile?
- To what extent is monetization necessary, and to what extent is an exchange of values also desired?
- To what extent do suppliers want to keep their food, and what can be on the market?
- What is the motivation for people who are losing weight to obtain long-lasting food from surplus production? What are they willing to pay for it?
- What barriers and barriers exist among target groups for sustainable consumption and how can they be transformed into resonance through targeted communication (e.g. rational vs. emotional)?
- How can proven principles of behavior change be used to promote a sustainable food culture in the long term?
- What potential does the canning mobile have as a concept for reducing food waste? Which concept components of the canning workshop are convincing, which are not?
method
To empirically research the questions, 12 qualitative in-depth interviews (IDIs) (hereinafter referred to as “qualitative interviews”) are carried out.
The qualitative interviews last around 60 minutes and — to ensure maximum flexibility — take place online via a video platform.
sample
Both target groups are relevant to answering the research questions.
The focus of interest is on the part of “Suppliers” (n=6) the following actors:
Agriculture, solidarity agriculture (e.g. plankton), Swiss food bank, allotment associations, private growers, etc.
The focus of interest is on the part of “Decreasing” (n=6) the following actors:
Solidarity agriculture subscription owners, public institutions such as daycare centers, schools/lunch tables, public canteens, private individuals (with and without their own garden).
expiry
The project is based on an emergency preserving mobile concept. On this basis, a prototype of the emergency preserving mobile will be developed, which will be used during the harvest season in September 2025. With the prototype, canning workshops are carried out with various actors from the target group “suppliers” (approx. 4-6 workshops with 4-6 participants). Target people are recruited from the pool of participants for the qualitative interviews. The remaining participants take part in a short online survey about Mentimenter in order to obtain additional feedback on the general response.
The qualitative interviews focus on the so-called “Reasons to Believe” (RTBs): comprehensibility, relevance, credibility, differentiation and persuasion from the perspective of the relevant target group — as well as key drivers and barriers.
In addition, individual parameters of the concept are specifically varied and compared — e.g. participation with or without your own food, sharing of preservation tools, cost structure of workshops or logistical issues. In addition, different communication channels (e.g. rational vs. emotional) are tested. The concept can be validated in advance using pretests.
As part of the workshops with the emergency canning mobile, photos and clips are created, which are used as stimulus material in interviews with potential recipients.