SEOUL DESIGN AWARD

Hong Kong generates over 3,300 tons of food waste every day, yet its landfills are reaching capacity. How to reduce food waste and regenerate it as a resource has become one of the city’s greatest challenges.

Soil Trust addresses this by creating a soil-to-table-to-soil circular economy model that links local farms, hotels, retailers, and residents. Positioned as an innovative solution for Hong Kong’s 2050 carbon neutrality goal, the project seeks to create compost from food waste to restore soil health and redistributes the resulting harvests to vulnerable households.

Specifically, 2.5 tons of food waste from households and hotels have been converted into compost, producing 1,500 kg of crops that were shared with the community. The regenerative agriculture pilot began on donated farmland, supported by Reverse Logistics that circulate food resources from the city back to rural areas. The program also engaged ethnic minority mothers and students in service-learning activities, building composting skills and shifting community perceptions.

The initiative follows Humanity-Centered Design principles: addressing root causes rather than symptoms, considering entire ecosystems, maintaining long-term perspectives, embracing iterative experimentation, and co-designing with residents. This transformed farmers, restaurateurs, and consumers into co-producers of an entire local resource circulation system.

As a result, cooperation between hotels and farms has expanded, strengthening food upcycling awareness in the hospitality sector. Students and residents learned regenerative agriculture skills to prepare for the future. Low-income families gained access to local organic food, and the community secured a self-sustaining fertilizer supply chain.

Starting in Hong Kong, Soil Trust is now recognized as one of the international best practice and continues to scale through academic publications, documentaries, and awareness initiatives.