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The current rates of population growth necessitate the need for more sustainable food production. The breeding of insects could be a possibility. Since the turn of the millennium, there has been a clear increase in the interest in breeding insects in Europe. The main products from insect farms are insects and proteins, but insect farms also produce insect frass (insect feces). Due to its high nutritional content, insect frass has a great potential to be upcycled for the production of fertilizers, compost material, soil improvers, or growth enhancers. The use of insect frass as fertilizer can help limit the use of agrochemicals. By reintroducing valuable material into the food production chain, the land application of insect frass is consistent with the circular economy’s principles. Before insect frass can be introduced to the market as a fertilizer, sanitizing treatment is needed in order to eliminate possible microorganisms that are harmful to health. In Europe, no legislation specifically developed for the use of insect frass as fertilizer has been formulated yet. Due to the absence of such European Union (EU) legislation, the possibilities of upcycling frass remain relatively limited. In this case study, focus is on the regulatory barriers of upcycling frass in Denmark.

The purchasing power of public sector organizations can be used to promote strategic policy objectives such as sustainability, innovation, and the concept of circular economy (CE). In Denmark, total greenhouse gas emissions from public procurement (PP) activities comprise approximately 12 million tons CO₂eq/year. Thus, if sustainability criteria and CE are considered in PP, there is a potential for environmental savings and for driving innovation toward circularity. Directive 2014/24/EU on PP makes it possible to include sustainability criteria or CE in public tenders. In order to aid this process, the case company Vraa Dampvaskeri has, together with researchers from Aalborg University, developed a guide for sustainable PP focusing on workwear and laundry services. In this chapter, we explore how this guide has been used in practice. This includes a consideration of the way in which such a guide can aid the process of setting sustainable and circular criteria in public tenders, thus supporting a transition to CE. Although the guide is now supported by national criteria for textiles in the Danish Partnership for Green PP, these tools cannot stand alone, as their use by PP officers is voluntary. Market engagement is imperative for inclusion of sustainability and CE in tenders, and the involvement of user groups is essentially important.