Camden Council has announced the first ever winners of the Camden Challenge Prize, a scheme set up to back innovative ideas that drive progress across its four Missions centring on food, young people, estates and neighbourhoods, and diversity. This year, the focus was on tackling food waste, with Soil Systems winning the £75,000 Gold Prize, and Limetrack securing the £25,000 Silver Prize.
Camden’s Food Mission is reshaping the local food system by helping residents access, enjoy, and make positive, empowered choices about food – from buying and preparing it to eating and disposing of waste. This year’s Camden Challenge Prize encouraged people to generate ideas to support this.
The winners were chosen following an exciting Pitch Day where finalists presented the prototypes they developed over three months and demonstrated how they used their £5,000 grants to advance their ideas to tackle food waste in Camden’s Hospitality and Food Service sector.
A panel of experts in innovation, sustainability and food systems assessed each project on impact, feasibility and benefits to residents. The judging panel included representatives from Google UK, Moree Limited, Nesta Challenge Works, The Sustainable Restaurant Association, the Camden Food Mission and even a pastry chef from Claridge’s.
Councillor Anna Wright, Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care and Food Mission Lead, said:
“The energy and imagination behind this year’s Challenge Prize have been incredible. Our communities are leading the way in rethinking how we use and enjoy food, and the winning projects show just how powerful local innovation can be. We’re committed to building a fairer and more sustainable food system, and these ideas will help us to tackle food waste and improve access to good, nutritious food for everyone. I can’t wait to see their ideas come to life across the borough.”
Throughout the prototyping phase, Soil Systems showcased an ambitious and community-rooted model for transforming food waste into nutrient-rich soil pellets, ‘Earth Shots’, through a fast, odour-free fermentation process, creating a circular link between restaurants and local growers. Judges praised the team’s passion and commitment to working with local businesses and growers, noting that their model would not only reduce food waste but also provide a more sustainable alternative to peat for farms, allotments and gardens.
Soil Systems founder Amy Agnew said:
“The whole team at Soil Systems is so proud and excited to be continuing our work in partnership with Camden Council. We have had incredible support from the Camden community – the brilliant hospitality businesses who have given us their food waste, the enthusiastic growers who will be testing our food waster fertiliser this Spring, and the local garden centres helping us bring our product to market. We can’t wait to build our first showcase model in Camden, before scaling the system across London and beyond.”
Limetrack impressed the panel with their waste tracking platform designed to reduce commercial and community food waste. Their SMART wheelie bins automatically and cost-effectively record valuable food-waste data, providing hospitality businesses with precise, actionable insights by integrating food-waste data with Electronic Point of Sale systems. Judges noted the clarity of the intervention, which fits seamlessly into existing kitchen and front-of-house systems and provides useful data with minimal effort from busy staff.
