Biotechnology for Zero Waste – Emerging Waste Management Techniques (Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain (editor) etc.)

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Agri and Food Waste Valorization Through the Production

of Biochemicals and Packaging Materials

A. Jagannath¹and Pooja J. Rao²

1Defence Food Research Laboratory, Department of Fruit and Vegetable Technology, Siddartha Nagar,

Mysore, Karnataka 570 011, India

2Central Food Technological Research Institute, Department of Spices and Flavour Science, Mysore,

Karnataka 570 020, India

34.1

Introduction

The worldwide shift from a linear economy model to a circular one during the pro-

duction and consumption of various commodities has placed greater emphasis on

recycle and reuse, in a bid to ensure that human development in all walks of life

can learn and follow the principles of nature. Traditional agriculture and livelihood

relied on the local use of agri-food wastes (AFWs), in enriching the fertility of soil and

used solar energy to dry agricultural wastes to derive energy from them, as household

fuel. These infact can be considered as the earliest efforts of mankind in valoriza-

tion, i.e. converting waste to valuable resources. Modern agricultural practices with

increased land holdings, centralized handling and processing of raw produce have

brought with it the problem of AFW that now needs to be managed in a more effi-

cient way as compared to the days of traditional agriculture.

The problem in itself and the economic implications of these AFW has been real-

ized, researched and debated only since the last decade or so, especially with refer-

ence to international efforts in addressing the problem. The FAO estimates, about

a third of the world’s food supply being wasted, was an eye-opener [1] which was

later corroborated by FUSIONS, a European Union Research Project which pegged

the per capita food wastage at a whooping173 kg/person/year [2]. Apart from the

socioeconomic impacts, this wastage is also associated with environmental costs

as well, with AFW presenting global environmental problems. Annual smogs seen

while burning crop stubbles contribute significantly to carbon dioxide emissions.

This practice of burning agricultural wastes is equally common in the developed [3]

as well as the developing world. A significant amount (88%) of the carbon dioxide

produced in the course of worldwide agricultural activities comes from crop residues

and the rest 12% from the process of burning [4]. Apart from carbon dioxide, the

emission of other greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide has also been

traced partly to AFW [5].

Biotechnology for Zero Waste: Emerging Waste Management Techniques, First Edition.

Edited by Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain and Ravi Kumar Kadeppagari.