Smart & Lean Hub Oy has published a new result package presenting the outcomes and lessons learned from the Lahti pilot implemented within the Change(K)now! project.
The Lahti Sustainable Food Packaging Transition Model brings together practical results, methods, and evidence on how public procurement and institutional catering can support the transition towards more sustainable food packaging systems.
The result package provides an overview of the full transition journey – from identifying the challenge and engaging stakeholders to developing procurement criteria, testing feasibility in a large-scale municipal production kitchen environment, and identifying pathways for wider replication.
The package includes:
an executive summary of the Lahti Sustainable Food Packaging Transition Model
a full pilot report covering pre-assessment, stakeholder engagement, and feasibility testing
supporting evidence reports and practical lessons learned
insights for municipalities, public procurement organisations, and institutional catering operators aiming to reduce unnecessary packaging waste and improve circularity
To improve long-term accessibility, openness, and reuse of the results, the Lahti pilot outcomes have also been published through Zenodo, an open research repository supporting findable and reusable project results:
The result package contributes to sharing practical evidence on how municipalities can move from circular economy ambitions towards concrete implementation through procurement, collaboration, and evidence-based transition management.
Circ@Home Lahti micropilot tested how digital decision support can make smart-device repair more accessible for households
What happens when a smartphone breaks?
For many households, the decision is not simply about sustainability. It is a practical question:
How much will the repair cost?
Can the repair service be trusted?
How long will the repair take?
Is repairing still reasonable compared with buying a new device?
These everyday questions were explored in the Circ@Home Lahti non-food micropilot, coordinated by Smart & Lean Hub Oy.
Testing Smart for Repair with households
In Lahti, more than 10 households tested the Älyä Korjaukseen / Smart for Repair application — a digital decision-support tool developed to make repair options easier to find, compare and evaluate.
The application brings together practical information that households need before making a repair decision:
✔ comparison between repair cost and replacement cost ✔ visibility of available repair service providers ✔ warranty information ✔ location of repair services ✔ clear overview of repair alternatives
The aim was not only to promote repair, but to understand what prevents people from choosing repair in real-life situations.
The pilot showed that many households have a positive attitude towards repair. The main barriers are often practical: missing information, uncertainty and difficulty comparing alternatives.
As one participant described:
💬 “I would rather repair existing products than buy new ones, because the world is drowning in unnecessary things.”
Users especially appreciated the possibility to see repair information clearly in one place:
💬 “I liked this application because I could easily see the places and a clear comparison.”
The feedback highlighted that transparent information can increase confidence and make repair a more realistic option.
From willingness to action
One of the key lessons from the micropilot was that circular behaviour does not depend only on motivation.
People may already want to make sustainable choices — but those choices need to be easy, understandable and trustworthy.
The Smart for Repair pilot showed that reducing decision uncertainty can strengthen households’ readiness to extend product lifetimes instead of replacing devices.
Small repair decisions can create big circular economy opportunities.
The Lahti pilot is part of the international Circ@Home project, which develops practical solutions to support circular economy actions in everyday life.
From individual services to circular ecosystems
A key conclusion from Circ@Home: Circular transition happens when: usable services + supportive ecosystems → household readiness-to-do → circular actions
Source: Circ@Home, D1.4; Tuula Löytty, Smart & Lean Hub Oy, Finland
The future of circular cities is therefore not only about creating more circular services. It is about creating conditions where circular choices become the easiest and most natural choices.
Smart & Lean Hub Oy continues this work in the Circ@Home project by developing and testing practical solutions that help connect households, circular service providers and local ecosystems.
In the Circ@Home Lahti micropilot, more than 10 households tested the Smart for Repair application, which helps users compare smart-device repair options, costs, warranties and service providers. The pilot showed that households are often willing to repair, but need clearer, more trustworthy and easily accessible information before choosing repair over replacement.
One of the key findings from the Circ@Home project is that circularity happens only when sustainable choices become visible, trusted, affordable and easy enough to use in everyday situations.
Pienikin muutos päätöksenteon logiikassa voi siirtää valintaa kohti korjaamista. Ja juuri siinä piilee kiertotalouden hiljainen, mutta vaikuttava vipuvoima.
How can households become more circular in practice? The answer is not simply “more information” or “more motivation”.
One of the key findings from the Circ@Home project is that circularity happens only when sustainable choices become visible, trusted, affordable and easy enough to use in everyday situations.
Smart & Lean Hub Oy contributed to the development of the Circ@Home Circular Services Model (CSM), which explores how services, municipalities and local ecosystems can enable households to move from circular intentions to real actions.
Circular services are not circular by name alone
A repair service, sharing platform, second-hand shop or recycling solution does not automatically create circular behaviour.
The key question is:
Does the service help people find, trust and complete a more circular action?
The Circular Services Model introduces a functional perspective:
A circular service is not only an offer. It is: Service offer + access mechanism + enabling ecosystem
For example:
Can people find the service when they need it?
Is the price and process understandable?
Can they trust the quality?
Is choosing circular easier than buying new or throwing away?
Circularity often fails because of everyday friction
Many circular solutions already exist — but they remain unused.
Why? Because households face practical barriers:
“Where can I repair this?”
“Is repair worth the cost?”
“Can I trust second-hand quality?”
“How much time will this take?”
“Where do I start?”
The challenge is often not attitude, it is usability. Circular choices must compete with the convenience of linear options.
Four things make circular services work
The Circ@Home Circular Services Model identified four key conditions:
Visibility & access: People need to find circular options at the right moment.
Capability & trust: People need confidence about quality, responsibility and outcomes.
Reduced effort: Circular choices must reduce uncertainty, time and complexity.
Infrastructure connection: Individual services need support from local ecosystems — hubs, municipalities, logistics and cooperation.
Together these create what Circ@Home calls:
“Readiness-to-do” — the practical ability to act circularly.
What benefits can others take from this?
The Circular Services Model provides a practical framework for:
Municipalities: to understand how policy, infrastructure, incentives and local coordination can make circular services stronger.
Service providers: to design solutions that customers actually use — not only environmentally good concepts.
Circular economy projects: to evaluate why some solutions scale while others remain niche activities.
Local communities: to build ecosystems where circular living becomes a normal part of everyday life.
From individual services to circular ecosystems
A key conclusion from Circ@Home: Circular transition happens when: usable services + supportive ecosystems → household readiness-to-do → circular actions
Source: Circ@Home, D1.4; Tuula Löytty, Smart & Lean Hub Oy, Finland
The future of circular cities is therefore not only about creating more circular services. It is about creating conditions where circular choices become the easiest and most natural choices.
Smart & Lean Hub Oy continues this work in the Circ@Home project by developing and testing practical solutions that help connect households, circular service providers and local ecosystems.
Pienikin muutos päätöksenteon logiikassa voi siirtää valintaa kohti korjaamista. Ja juuri siinä piilee kiertotalouden hiljainen, mutta vaikuttava vipuvoima.
28.11.2025 on sekä Black Friday että Luontoliiton järjestämä Älä Osta Mitään – päivä. Yhteistyössä Lahden Luontoliiton, Salpausselän luonnonystävien ja Lahden kaupungin kanssa olemme mukana TRIO:n palvelutorilla perjantaina 28.11.2025 klo 16.15–17.45. Tule tutustumaan, miten pienillä teoilla voi edistää kestävää arkea! November 28, 2025, is both Black Friday and the Buy Nothing Day organised by the Finnish…
Työpöydälläni on konsepti – Urban Circular Triangle – josta otan selkoa soveltavan tutkimuksen ja kehityksen kautta. Suunta on kohti käytännön interventiota ja todellisia vaikutuksia! There is a concept on the table – Urban Circular Triangle – which is now being explored through applied research and development. The direction is clear: towards practical intervention and real…
Circular Economy is no longer a voluntary ambition – it is a regulation-driven transformation.
In the Lahti pilot, implemented as part of the Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme through the Change(K)now! project, we have examined incoming food packaging in professional kitchens and the related procurement criteria.
The question is practical but systemic: How can public procurement reduce packaging waste and steer the market towards recyclable and reusable solutions?
This work aligns directly with:
Finland’s circular economy policy framework led by Ympäristöministeriö
The EU Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) by the European Commission
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)
And crucially: it operationalises Green Public Procurement (GPP) as the concrete mechanism that translates circular economy objectives into binding contract requirements.
As packaging obligations become legally binding at EU level, local procurement work is no longer experimental — it is proactive regulatory readiness.
Are we in Lahti pilot on the right track? When policy, regulation and procurement — through GPP — start reinforcing each other, the direction becomes clear.
Results & Solutions
Sustainable Food Packaging Transition Model for Public Catering A practical transition model developed and tested in the City of Lahti pilot to support sustainable procurement, packaging circularity and institutional catering transformation.
Change(K)now! project is co-funded by Interreg Baltic Sea Region. The project’s main objective is a mindset change from single-use to circular or multiple-use of food delivery systems in cities and residents of the Baltic Sea Region.
Smart & Lean Hub Oy has published a new result package presenting the outcomes and lessons learned from the Lahti pilot implemented within the Change(K)now! project. The Lahti Sustainable Food Packaging Transition Model brings together practical results, methods, and evidence on how public procurement and institutional catering can support the transition towards more sustainable food…
♻️ Miten julkiset hankinnat voivat vähentää ammattikeittiöiden pakkausjätettä? Ammattikeittiöissä syntyy merkittäviä määriä elintarvikepakkausjätettä. Esimerkiksi Lahden suurimmassa valmistuskeittiössä kertyy noin 6 000 kg pakkausjätettä miljoonaa ateriaa kohden. 🌍 Vastauksena tähän Change(K)now! Interreg Baltic Sea Region – hanke on käynnistänyt pilotoinnin Lahdessa, jossa kehitetään kestäviä hankintakriteerejä elintarvikepakkauksille julkisiin hankintoihin. 🎯 Tavoitteena on:vähentää pakkausjätettävauhdittaa kiertotalouttaedistää vihreiden hankintojen käyttöönottoa…
Tervetuloa työpajaan, jossa pureudutaan ruokapakkausten kiertotalouden ratkaisuihin ammattikeittiöiden näkökulmasta. Työpajassa kuulet ajankohtaista tietoa ruokapakkausten ympäristövaikutuksista, EU:n uudesta pakkaus- ja pakkausjäteasetuksesta sekä käytännön kokemuksia ruokapalveluiden pakkausratkaisuista. Lisäksi pääset osallistumaan keskusteluun ja verkostoitumaan muiden alan toimijoiden kanssa. Työpaja järjestetään 27.8.2025 klo 13:00 – 16:00 Lahdessa. Ohjelmassa Varmistuneet puheenvuorot: Tarkempi ohjelma julkaistaan elokuun alussa. Ilmoittautuminen Paikkoja on rajoitetusti, joten varaa…
The workshop utilised the SPRINT methodology to create an action plan for the Lahti pilot project. The workshop brought together stakeholders from various sectors of the food supply chain, including the packaging industry, wholesalers, and city administration.
Change(K)now! aims to promote a change of mindset in food supply systems from disposable to reusable crockery and packaging for different types of use. The INTERREG Baltic Sea Region programme is funding the project activities, which are being carried out by more than 20 partners. The purpose of the 2nd General Assembly was the finalisation…
Many EU funded projects have grasped the idea to involve different stakeholder groups into the project execution. The multi-actor approach and quadruple helix model have became a real tool and concept for project managers. The idea is to promote diverse stakeholder groups participation into project planning and implementation. Stakeholders provide insights and feedback to project…
In Lahti, smart device such as smart phone and smart watches repair services are available. Households value reuse and repair.
And yet, replacement often wins. Why? Because at the moment of failure, repair feels uncertain. ❌ Prices are unclear ❌ Quality is hard to judge ❌ Services are difficult to compare or even find The Lahti Circ@Home pilot starts from this reality — and from a clear feasibility boundary.
🧭 What we can change — and what we can’t The pilot does not attempt to run long behavioural programmes with households. Instead, it focuses on what is realistically actionable: ✔ improving decision conditions ✔ increasing transparency and visibility ✔ strengthening municipal legitimacy ✔ supporting repair at the episodic decision moment
💡 Three complementary interventions
Smart for Repair – a lightweight decision-support tool that makes repair options comparable and understandable
Lahti Circular Economy Ecosystem Map – visualising where circular services exist (and where gaps remain)
Repair Voucher (concept phase) – exploring affordability and the city’s enabling role
Together, these interventions target the structural failure points of repair decisions: missing information, low visibility, and perceived risk.
🔺 Circularity through coordination — not persuasion Circularity here does not emerge from nudging households. It emerges when:
local repair SMEs provide technical capacity (R4 Repair)
the municipality acts as an orchestrator, enabler and legitimiser
households are supported as decision-makers, not behaviour-change subjects
Circ@Home-hankkeen Lahti-pilotti etsii ratkaisuja arjen päätöksenteon kitkaan.
Pilotin ytimessä on kysymys: miksi toimiva korjaus jää niin usein tekemättä, vaikka palveluita on tarjolla? Älypuhelimen tai älykellon kohdalla kynnystä nostavat usein epävarmuus hinnasta, vaivasta, laadusta ja koko prosessin ennakoitavuudesta. Kun korjaaminen tuntuu monimutkaiselta, uuden laitteen hankinta valikoituu helposti oletusratkaisuksi.
Lahti-pilotissa tätä kynnystä madalletaan tekemällä korjausvaihtoehdot näkyvämmiksi, vertailtavammiksi ja luotettavammiksi – ilman että itse korjausmarkkinaa muutetaan. Fokus ei ole tarjonnan lisäämisessä, vaan siinä, miten kotitaloudet tekevät päätöksiä arjessa.
Pienikin muutos päätöksenteon logiikassa voi siirtää valintaa kohti korjaamista. Ja juuri siinä piilee kiertotalouden hiljainen, mutta vaikuttava vipuvoima.
Miksi kodinkoneiden korjaajat katosivat? Yksi kertoo saavansa jopa sata soittoa päivässä, koska muita ei ole. Katso Yle:n juttu 6.1.2025 https://yle.fi/a/74-20199496
Suomen uusi kansallinen ruokastrategia 2040 (”Onnellisen ruuan maa”) linjaa vahvasti kestävää, resilienttiä ja oikeudenmukaista ruokajärjestelmää.
Strategia ei kuitenkaan lukitse ratkaisuja, se antaa mandaatin toimia. Juuri tähän kohtaan asettuu Change(K)now Interreg Baltic Sea Region -hankkeen Lahden pilotti. 🔹 Strategia tunnistaa julkisen sektorin aktiiviseksi muutosvoimaksi, ei vain tilaajaksi. 🔹 Julkiset ruokapalvelut nähdään keskeisenä vipuvartena kestävien ratkaisujen skaalaamisessa. 🔹 Ruokapakkausten ympäristöystävällisyys ei ole erillinen teema, vaan osa resurssiviisasta ja vähäpäästöistä ruokajärjestelmää.
📍 Lahden pilotissa tämä konkretisoituu: – julkisten ruokapalvelujen ja hankintojen kehittämisenä – kestävien ruokapakkausratkaisujen tarkasteluna osana kokonaisjärjestelmää – institutionaalisen kapasiteetin vahvistamisena kunnassa ja alueellisessa ruokaketjussa
Sustainable Food Packaging Transition Model for Public Catering A practical transition model developed and tested in the City of Lahti pilot to support sustainable procurement, packaging circularity and institutional catering transformation.
Change(K)now! project is co-funded by Interreg Baltic Sea Region. The project’s main objective is a mindset change from single-use to circular or multiple-use of food delivery systems in cities and residents of the Baltic Sea Region.
Radical innovation doesn’t emerge from brainstorming alone. It appears where three forces deliberately meet — a logic articulated by Risto Linturi in his Radical Innovation Triangle.
The triangle brings together:
▶️ Institutional capacities — what an organisation is genuinely capable of doing
▶️ Enablers — technologies, policies, societal shifts that make new things possible
▶️ Needs — real, often unmet human and systemic problems
Radical ideas live in the overlap. Miss one corner, and innovation either stalls or stays incremental.
What feels strikingly current is how well this framework aligns with AI-powered innovation: AI can scan enablers, surface latent needs, and stress-test institutional capacities far faster than traditional processes. But the triangle reminds us that technology alone is never enough — alignment is the real breakthrough.
The Radical Innovator AI application has now been launched ✨
Smart & Lean Hub Oy brings Radical Innovator AI into practice, helping companies identify these intersections systematically and efficiently. We look forward to hearing from organisations and leaders who are actively seeking radical ideas and want to turn their existing capacities into engines of future growth.
Risto Linturi’s Radical Innovation Triangle is based on the idea that true breakthroughs emerge at the intersection of three factors: 🔺 an organization’s real capabilities and resources 🔺 major global shifts and structural changes 🔺 new opportunities for value creation and business models A radical innovation only exists when all three come together.
The RI-Triangle has now been taken to the next level by Risto Linturi.
Radical Innovator AI is an AI-based tool in which a large language model is guided to perform the same innovation process that was previously carried out manually. The AI analyzes organizational starting points, technological change, and stakeholder needs – and identifies potential new strategic directions.
Smart & Lean Hub Oy brings Radical Innovator AI into practice, helping companies identify these intersections systematically and efficiently.
Radical innovation = the right leap in the right direction.
This short documentary explores the deep bond between people and the places they inhabit through the story of Mallusjoki, a rural village in Finland. The video follows the themes of place attachment (PAT) and people–place bond, central to the European project PoliRuralPlus.
Mallusjoki shows how community, culture, everyday life, intergenerational stories and changing local environments shape territorial identity. Through shared activities, local memories, traditions, and new digital tools, residents take part in building a future where rural and urban life connect more closely.
PoliRuralPlus strengthens participation, inclusiveness and social cohesion by helping communities influence how their surroundings evolve. In Mallusjoki, this means creating meaningful meeting places, supporting well-being, and nurturing the bond between people and their environment.
This video is part of the Finnish pilot developing new approaches to rural vitality, community resilience and sustainable development.
PoliRuralPlus-hankkeessa järjestetään neljä avointa hakukierrosta, joiden avulla etsitään ja rahoitetaan uusia ideoita maaseudun ja kaupunkien kehittämiseksi. Tavoitteena on laajentaa hankkeen vaikutusta ja kokeilla uusia menetelmiä, teknologioita ja toimintatapoja.
Tavoitteet Avoin tarjouspyyntö kohdistuu toimiin, jotka koskevat maaseudun ja kaupunkien välisiä yhteyksiä ja joissa hyödynnetään hankkeessa kehitettyjä tieto- ja viestintätekniikan välineitä kestävän kasvun ja innovoinnin edistämiseksi. Tarjouspyynnössä haetaan erityisesti projekteja, jotka: Mallusjoen pilotin yleistavoite Mallusjoen alueen pilotin tavoitteena PoliRuralPlus hankkeessa on rakentaa maaseudun tapahtumateollisuuden ekosysteemi, joka edistää yhteisön sitoutumista, julkisen ja yksityisen sektorin kumppanuutta ja…
Newsflash no. 3 highlights the testing of the new Mallusjoki Youth Society’s Takkari Club event products for autumn 2024, the strategic cooperation with Päijänne-LEADER’s Habitability at Päijät-Häme project and, as a preliminary information, the project’s two AI-based products. Here you can find all published newsflashes….
PoliRuralPlus, an EU-funded project focused on sustainable rural development, is underway with a pilot programme in Mallusjoki. This pilot programme aims to create a regional vision 2040 and a development strategy, focusing on the Rural Events Industry as a key theme.
PoliRuralPlus, an EU-funded project focused on sustainable rural development, is underway with a pilot programme in Mallusjoki. This pilot programme, with 28 months remaining, aims to create a regional vision 2040 and a development strategy, focusing on the Rural Events Industry as a key theme. A diverse stakeholder group of over 20 people has been formed, and the…
This year, the Mallusjoki Summer Festival – Takinkääntöviikko – is being used as an innovation platform for the Rural Event Industry. The platform provides a test-bed for real-life experiments and a relaxed environment for a multi-actor approach to promote interaction with stakeholders and ecosystem players who come to the festival from both rural and urban…
In the previous Horizon2020 PoliRural project, we implemented and learnt from the Multi-Actor Approach (MAA) and intensive stakeholder involvement.
In the new Horizon Europe funded rural development project – PoliRuralPlus – we are continuing the work of PoliRural. We want to deepen and strengthen the Multi-Actor Approach and stakeholder involvement in the design and implementation…
MALLUSJOKI PILOT PARTNERS Mallusjoen Nuorisoseura ry i.e. Mallusjoki Youth Association provides the innovation platform and it is the other Finnish partner, besides Smart & Lean Hub Oy, in the consortium. MALLUSJOKI PILOT DESCRIPTION ANTICIPATED RESULTS OF MALLUSJOKI PILOT The Rural Event Industry Ecosystem concept and the Rural Event Industry strategy 2040 for Mallusjoki Youth Association.…
