JANUARY
The year started promisingly with the publication of an article by Katri and Ulla-Maija in Consumption and Society. The article is titled “Eat healthy, save the planet, but let minced meat save you! Marketing discourses, food practices and meat consumption legitimation” and it discusses the cultural tensions surrounding food, especially meat consumption.
FEBRUARY
In February, our CARE project experienced critical times as we coordinated an international consortium, filling our workload with various contract preparations and holding a project meeting. Coordination work has brought many new things to our table, and we can already say we have learned a lot!
Additionally, a publication based on the IN2FOOD project, “Impact of food waste-related course attendance on students’ food waste reduction behaviours and knowledge: a case study from Indonesia,” was published in the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education in February.
MARCH
In March, Katri went on a three-month research visit to the University of Bristol, during which she had the opportunity to collaborate with local researchers working on themes related to sustainability and consumption.
At the Responsible Business Research Days, our doctoral researcher Mari presented the main outlines of the first article in her dissertation, which focuses on the well-being and sustainable clothing consumption further examined in our CARE project. We also had the opportunity to present our research findings related to the CIRCEX project.
Recruitment of households participating in the CARE project started off excellently in March, and the project was even mentioned in Aamulehti.
APRIL
In April, we visited the SCORAI (Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative) conference, where we organized a session titled ‘Interventions toward circular consumption’. The session featured insightful presentations on interventions from across Europe, and overall, our conference visit was very rewarding. You can read more about the conference in a blog post on the project’s website.
MAY
In May, Wastebusters researchers spent a joint summer day together in wonderful sunny weather. At the end of the month, Ines took part in a panel discussion organised by the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation titled “How Social Media Influencers Will Save the World”.
JUNE
In June, we traveled to Helsinki to participate in the DECAY project’s Waste Matters conference. We heard inspiring keynote speeches (including Gay Hawkins’!) and presented our own research findings related to plastic waste and household waste management. The conference was held at Kaapelitehdas in Helsinki, where a pop-up art exhibition was also taking place, adding new dimensions alongside the presentations by waste researchers.
JULY
In July, researchers were on vacation, but Mikael’s insightful article “Questioning Anthropocentric Utilitarianism: Expanding Ethical Horizons in the Circular Economy” was published in the journal Circular Economy and Sustainability.
AUGUST
In August, all researchers of our CIRCEX project gathered in the beautiful surroundings of Aulanko in Hämeenlinna to work on project publications and plan various future activities, visits, and seminars.
We also completed household recruitment, and the CARE project pilots began in Finland. For the
project, households filled out surveys, tracked their own food waste, and calculated their clothing consumption.
Our research group grew with a new member as Jussi started as a researcher and jumped straight into household interviews. Ethnographic interviews with households continued throughout the autumn, and it has been especially rewarding to visit participants’ kitchens and closets, peek into freezers and laundry rooms, and discuss various everyday habits.
SEPTEMBER
In September, Ines, Nina, and Elina’s article “We Need to Play With the Same Rules as Others’: Circular Fashion Start-Ups and the Emerging Logic of Circularity,” which is also Ines’s second dissertation article, was published in Business Strategy and the Environment. The study examines Finnish and/or Finland-based circular fashion companies (second-hand, rental, repair and maintenance, upcycling) and the ways these companies seek to mainstream and legitimize their operations.
OCTOBER
At the end of October, we welcomed a long-awaited visitor to Tampere as part of our CIRCEX project. Professor Bernard Cova arrived in Finland, and we traveled with him to Turku for the “Envisioning and Enhancing Human Experiences in the Circular Economy” seminar. Associate Professor Josina Vink also visited our seminar.
The seminar attracted a great audience interested in the topic, and we were pleased with how well the presentation themes complemented each other and addressed the same concepts and theories.
NOVEMBER
In November, the food waste pilot of our CARE project reached an exciting stage as participants met each other at food waste cooking workshops organized by our project partner Ekokumppanit. The workshops were held in collaboration with the Martha Association, and participants cooked various dishes from ingredients they most often waste. Alongside cooking, thoughts were shared about food waste, cooking, eating habits, and many other more or less food-related topics.
In November, Ines received an amazing recognition when she was voted the Sustainability Actor of the Year in a poll conducted by Helsingin Ekonomit!
DECEMBER
An article based on the LOWINFOOD project, “Impact of food waste-related course attendance on students’ food waste reduction behaviours and knowledge: a case study from Indonesia,” was published in the December issue of Cleaner Waste Systems.
The year 2025 was above all about meaningful progress: article publications, rewarding conferences, and many valuable discussions. Our team grew, and our work took new directions. This is a great foundation to build on, and our focus is already on the next topics and challenges. There will be plenty to work on and enthusiasm to carry us into the coming year.
Pictures: Martta Vänskä