“I wanted to do waste management because I felt it was a topic that held a lot of potential”
Originally from Indonesia, Fadhila says she became drawn to the waste management field while working towards her bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology.
– I wanted to do waste management because I felt it was a topic that held a lot of potential. You know, you get to solve problems, but you also affect people’s lives, she says.
Fadhila came to Sweden in 2018 for a postgraduate programme in sustainable technology at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. For one of her courses, she made a study visit with classmates to the Ragn-Sells facility at Högbytorp. After a tour of the compound, there was a presentation by Graham Aid, the company’s R&D strategy coordinator and Fadhila’s now-current manager.
– He talked to us mostly about the R&D work that Ragn-Sells was doing back then. One of them was actually the black soldier fly project. After the presentation, I asked him if there was any student work available or something similar. And he suggested I apply to the summer trainee programme, she recalls.
From trainee to facility manager
Fadhila was accepted to the Ragn-Sells summer trainee programme for 2019. She stayed on for a part-time role into the fall and then started 2020 as part of the company’s degree project programme. Like many other postgraduate students of years past, Fadhila was able to coordinate her master’s thesis with something on the Ragn-Sells development agenda. For her, it was the black soldier fly project.
After finishing her thesis and receiving her master’s degree, Fadhila moved on to a job at another company. Then, almost a year after she’d completed her studies, Ragn-Sells joined the partnership to start the Orsa facility.
– They called me. I’d worked with the technology before and did my thesis on it, and they said, 'We need a facility manager.’ It was an easy ‘yes’ for me.
Contributing to a better future
For Fadhila, the black soldier fly project is indicative of the type of possibilities that come with managing organic waste and helps solve two separate problems with one solution. In this case, the need to dispose of food waste and the need to produce livestock feed with a lower environmental impact.
– I feel like this technology can bridge and solve both issues at the same time… our challenge is to scale up insect protein production in order to significantly affect the current emission levels from food and feed production.
It’s also not lost on her that the project wouldn’t be possible without the overarching philosophy that drives Ragn-Sells. One that aims to balance business and environmental responsibility.
– It’s personally motivating for me that I’m working for a company that doesn’t only focus on profit but also consciously makes decisions to better contribute to the future. I don’t think I’m speaking only for myself when I say it definitely gives you a sense of pride, says Fadhila.
