Circular economy expertise through university collaboration

The City of Riihimäki and Häme University of Applied Sciences are collaborating on the events of Riihimäki Circular Economy Week. The collaboration was launched for this year's Circular Economy Week (7–13 April 2025) and is planned to continue in the coming years.

In Harjunrinne and Pohjolanrinne, people learned about the circular economy through play.

The Riihimäki Circular Economy Week project was worked on by a student team from Häme University of Applied Sciences, including Camilla Lång, Jenku Piesanen and Aleksandra Sohlman. They chose middle school students as their target group and prepared a circular economy-themed game as their project in the spring. By playing, 9th graders from Pohjolanrinne School and 7th and 8th graders from Harjunrinne School were able to learn about the circular economy as part of their home economics lesson according to their schedule. Each teaching group was initially given basic information about the circular economy, overconsumption day and sustainable living.

During the game, groups of students completed four tasks that dealt with durable products, extending the product's lifespan, borrowing and renting instead of buying, and a climate-friendly meal. The students wrote down and pasted their most important lessons and favorite products from each task in the Logbooks included in the game. The completed tasks were rewarded with a code letter. When all the tasks had been completed, they reviewed what they had learned and were reminded of what the circular economy is. Finally, the students solved a riddle using the code letters they had collected during the game and received a prize for participating. The Riihimäki Recycling Center offered discount coupons to the players as a reward.

The high emissions from chocolate and cheese sparked debate

Climate-friendly meals were the most popular task based on feedback. The high emissions of red meat, chocolate and cheese sparked surprise and discussion. In the task on borrowing and renting goods, the diverse offering of Riihimäki Library surprised many, as in addition to books, the city library also offers various tools, tents, winter sports equipment and yard games.

In the task on extending the service life, the students brilliantly came up with different ways to repair defective products. They also came up with creative new uses for products instead of throwing them away. In the task on durable products, the students got to know the range of durable products and considered why replacing a disposable product with a durable product makes sense.

The game received good feedback

Viivi Mattheiszen, a home economics teacher at Harjurinteen School, was pleased with the game day and commented on it as follows:

“The circular economy game day was a great success in every way. The students were able to consider various themes related to the circular economy and at the same time noticed how they already do things related to the circular economy in their own everyday lives. The day was very informative and everyone was sure to remember something new and worth trying. It’s great that we were able to implement such an event through the cooperation of HAMK and the city of Riihimäki. I hope we can continue this type of activity. The young people of our city are our future and it is important to teach them about the circular economy so that it becomes a natural part of everyday life.”

The feedback from the young people was mixed. Some found the game day to be a nice change of pace and activity, while others found the game boring. The HAMK student team was satisfied with the game. They believed they had succeeded in gamifying the circular economy into a diverse and interesting whole. As far as we know, no similar whole has been done before, so the game day was an educational experience for all parties involved. The City of Riihimäki thanks HAMK for their cooperation and the student team for the material, which will be useful and enjoyable for schools in the future.