INVESTIGATING THE CURRENT METHODOLOGIES FOR THE EXTRACTION OF NUTRIENTS AND CHEMICALS FROM FOOD WASTE AND THEIR POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO ACHIEVING A CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Abstract

Around 1.3 billion tons or one-third of all food produced for human consumption annually ends up as food waste^[2]. Globally, the most common method of food waste removal remains landfill site disposal. This is highly problematic as each ton of food waste disposed of in landfill sites results in the production of 4.2 tons of CO₂, which is a known contributor to climate change^[1,3]. Therefore, treatment of food waste as a raw material is both financially and ethically attractive.

Ongoing research is being carried out at Intellidigest in attempts to develop novel methodologies to separate and extract high value nutrients and chemicals such sugars, organic acids, pectin, polysaccharides, polyphenols, and fatty acids from food waste with a high yield, low cost, and small environmental impact. This review will focus on the current methodologies used in the separation and extraction of nutrients and chemicals from food waste and the potential applications of their products in renewable technologies such as hydroponics, aquaculture, cellular protein supplementation, insect farming, and the production of biodegradable plastics.