Inclusive governance and sustainable value co-creation in circular business models: The case of ‘neighbourhood hubs against food waste’ in Milan

In the past decade, diverse public policies and initiatives have been put in place to fight against food waste. The Milan Urban Food Policy includes circular bioeconomy, by preventing food waste and redistributing food surpluses during the different stages of the food chain to reduce socio-economic inequalities and environmental impacts. Here, based on an in-depth case study, the ‘Neighbourhood Hubs Against Food Waste’ project in Milan is analysed to understand how inclusive governance and co-creation processes in a collaborative circular business model take place and lead to innovative, sustainable outcomes. Data was mainly collected via semi-structured interviews in 2023 with public institutions, the private sector, research institutes, philanthropic organizations, and civil society organizations. Results show that the private-public multi-stakeholder partnership has allowed for innovations in the food systems of Milan, to three extents: organisational-social, socio-economic, and organisational-technical. Next, the governance can be considered inclusive as the private, public and philanthropic sectors, research and civil society representatives are all included and interacting, with a considerable capacity of influencing decision-making processes. The distribution of benefits derived by the produced synergies is perceived equitable. Despite some barriers inherent in such an initiative, the Milan collaborative circular business model has brought considerable benefits to the overall urban system in terms of food waste reduction, food security, flexibility, open innovation by co-creation, and resilience. The Milan case shows that circular economy models can go beyond economic and environmental dimensions and include a social-solidary perspective emerging from hybrid organisations with industry, government and civil society. • A collaborative circular business model of food waste valorisation is presented. • Multi-actor co-creation processes lead to various local food system innovations. • An inclusive governance approach has allowed overcoming critical barriers. • Outcomes are food waste reduction, food security, open innovation and resilience. • Policy recommendations are drawn from the Milan circular bioeconomy case.