Abstract

As the human population edges closer to nine billion, we must explore how we can sustainably use Earth’s limited resources. Current agricultural production and food processing create significant amounts of wastes that have drastic effects on the environment, on the cost of production, and on human health and well-being. About a third of these wastes are produced domestically, as well as from agricultural production and food processing, and it often constitutes a disposal problem, although it contains many carbon-based materials (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, micronutrients, bioactive compounds, and dietary fibers) that can be converted into useful value-added products. Converting these wastes into useful products is important because of the impact it has on the environment, including energy consumption, water usage, and the amount of carbon it releases when discarded. The long-term goal is to ensure that all materials from agri-food production and processing are turned into valuable products based on the principle of upcycling and circular bioeconomies. This short review presents succinct information on where food and agricultural wastes and by-products are generated, it summarizes recent advances in waste reduction and value-added utilization, including the need for behavioral changes and improvements in food labeling, and it presents innovations, limitations, and future prospects for circular food systems that focus on total conversion of food and agricultural wastes to value-added products.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2022

Notes/Citation Information

© 2022 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13031/ja.14797

Funding Information

This work was supported by the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station (KAES), and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) (Multistate Project No. 1024529).

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