As Bio4HUMAN comes to a close, this final newsletter looks back at the project’s main achievements, key resources and moments of exchange that have shaped our work over the past two and a half years. 

From exploring bio-based solutions for humanitarian solid waste management to developing practical tools, stakeholder resources and a Replication Roadmap, Bio4HUMAN has helped build a stronger evidence base for more sustainable humanitarian response. 

Most importantly, the project has shown the value of bringing humanitarian actors, researchers, industry, policy representatives and local stakeholders into the same conversation — creating a common language for future action.

Over the course of the project, Bio4HUMAN explored how bio-based solutions and circular approaches can contribute to more sustainable solid waste management in humanitarian contexts. The project focused on a practical challenge: how to identify solutions that are not only environmentally promising, but also realistic, affordable, acceptable and usable in complex humanitarian settings.

Bio4HUMAN worked across several connected areas. The project mapped solid waste management needs and stakeholders in selected humanitarian contexts, analysed bio-based solutions and end-of-life options, and assessed their potential relevance for humanitarian operations. It also developed tools and methodologies to help humanitarian, programme, logistics, procurement and sustainability teams better understand the conditions under which such solutions may work.

A key achievement of the project was the development of a more structured evidence base for decision-making. Rather than treating bio-based solutions as automatically preferable, Bio4HUMAN examined them in relation to local infrastructure, supply chains, costs, end-of-life pathways, social acceptance and operational feasibility. This approach helped clarify where bio-based and circular solutions may offer value, and where further adaptation, testing or enabling conditions are needed.

The project also strengthened dialogue between sectors that do not always work closely together: humanitarian organisations, bio-based industries, researchers, public authorities, local stakeholders and European initiatives working on sustainability and circularity. By connecting these perspectives, Bio4HUMAN has contributed to a more practical and shared understanding of how sustainable waste management solutions can be explored, assessed and potentially replicated in humanitarian response.

The Bio4HUMAN Replication Roadmap brings together key insights from Bio4HUMAN’s work on solid waste management needs, stakeholder engagement, solution screening, feasibility considerations and sustainability assessment. 

The roadmap is especially relevant for programme, logistics, procurement and sustainability teams, as well as partners working on innovation, waste management, circular economy and environmentally responsible humanitarian response. It can support discussions on applicability conditions, expected benefits, operational constraints, stakeholder roles and factors that may influence successful replication.

Rather than presenting a one-size-fits-all model, the roadmap highlights the importance of context. Humanitarian settings differ widely in terms of infrastructure, governance, security, logistics, community acceptance, available services and end-of-life options. For this reason, any solution must be assessed against the specific conditions of the place where it may be introduced.

The roadmap is especially relevant for programme, logistics, procurement and sustainability teams, as well as partners working on innovation, waste management, circular economy and environmentally responsible humanitarian response. It can support discussions on applicability conditions, expected benefits, operational constraints, stakeholder roles and factors that may influence successful replication.

With roadmap now available, Bio4HUMAN aims to ensure that the project’s results remain useful after the project ends — supporting future pilots and scale-ups, partnerships, strategic discussions and follow-up actions between  humanitarian and bio-based sectors.

Bio4HUMAN held its Final Event on 28 May 2026 in Prague and online, bringing together humanitarian organisations, researchers, bioeconomy experts, EU policy representatives, industry actors and local stakeholders to discuss the future of sustainable solid waste management in humanitarian settings.

The event opened with contributions from Anja Pirjevec, Senior Environmental Sustainability and Climate Resilience Advisor at DG ECHO; Giulio Pattanaro, Bio4HUMAN’s Project Officer; and Andrea Motola, Bio4HUMAN’s Project Coordinator. A keynote speech by Magdalena Davis, Climate Program Director at People in Need, set the tone for the day by connecting humanitarian action with the urgent need for climate resilience and environmental sustainability.

Throughout the event, Bio4HUMAN partners presented the project’s main findings, tools and recommendations, while external voices helped place the results in a wider humanitarian, policy and bioeconomy context. Contributions came from across the consortium, including partners working on field engagement, sustainability assessment, bio-based solutions, end-of-life pathways, stakeholder mapping and exploitation.

The event also welcomed perspectives from Bio4HUMAN’s sister project WORM, represented by Virva Tuomala from Hanken School of Economics, underlining the importance of collaboration between European initiatives working on waste, circularity and sustainability in humanitarian response. The closing reflections were delivered by Nelo Emerencia, Director of Human Capital and Stakeholder Relations at the Bio-based Industries Consortium, together with Andrea Motola.

A strong message emerged from the discussions: sustainable waste management in humanitarian contexts requires cooperation across sectors, disciplines and geographies. By bringing together policy, practice, research, industry and field perspectives, the Final Event demonstrated Bio4HUMAN’s role in building a shared language for more circular, sustainable and responsible humanitarian action.

PRO CIVIS, Bio4HUMAN partner

"Participating in the Bio4HUMAN project has been a highly rewarding professional experience. It offered a unique opportunity to engage with an innovative initiative that successfully bridged the realms of bio-based industries and humanitarian aid, demonstrating how these fields can meaningfully complement one another. I was particularly impressed by the excellent management of the project, which ensured smooth collaboration and effective progress throughout its duration. The professionalism and coordination demonstrated by the project team significantly contributed to its success. Moreover, the consortium brought together partners with outstanding expertise. The high level of competencies across members, combined with their complementary strengths, created a strong and cohesive working environment that enabled impactful outcomes. Overall, Bio4HUMAN stands out as a well-structured and inspiring project, and I am grateful to have been part of this valuable experience."

For People in Need, Bio4HUMAN has been a unique and rewarding experience. As a humanitarian organisation, we do not often have the opportunity to participate in Horizon Europe projects, let alone lead a methodological Work Package. Working alongside bio-based industries, research institutions, universities and another humanitarian organisation has broadened our perspective and strengthened the connection between research, innovation and humanitarian practice. We particularly valued the opportunity to deepen our understanding of methodologies such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA), and to learn how they can be applied to assess the environmental and social impacts of humanitarian solutions. We believe the project's findings and practical recommendations will help humanitarian organisations make more informed and sustainable decisions and encourage the wider uptake of bio-based solutions where they are feasible and beneficial.

Bio4HUMAN Ethics Advisory Board member

"As an ethics expert involved in the Bio4HUMAN project, I greatly valued the opportunity to contribute ethical insight throughout its development. It has been rewarding to work with a team dedicated to ensuring that scientific and technological advances are considered alongside their broader societal, ethical, and human implications."

As Bio4HUMAN comes to a close, I am proud to look back on a project that has helped translate the promise of bio-based solutions into practical knowledge for the humanitarian sector. Our core finding is clear: material substitution alone is not enough. Bio-based products can only deliver meaningful environmental and operational benefits when they are connected to realistic end-of-life pathways, local infrastructure, community acceptance, procurement feasibility and strong enabling conditions. Through the cooperation of humanitarian organisations, researchers, bio-based industries, policymakers, local stakeholders and European initiatives, Bio4HUMAN has created a shared evidence base and a common language for more sustainable solid waste management in crisis-affected contexts. The project’s results are intended to support future pilots and scale-ups, partnerships, procurement decisions and policy discussions, helping humanitarian actors move towards solutions that are not only innovative, but also feasible, responsible and adapted to local realities. While this newsletter marks the closing of Bio4HUMAN, I hope it also opens the door to new collaborations, applications and shared efforts to make humanitarian response more sustainable, while demonstrating that humanitarian supply chains can become an attractive and meaningful market for the bio-based industry.

- Andrea Motola, Bio4HUMAN's Project Coordinator from Enspire Science. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.