Circularity in the agrifood sector has vast potential and often gives rise to even unexpected industrial symbioses: from rice to mussel shells to waste oil, the EU is leading the way in upcycling
By Sara Perinetto – Renewable Matter
Some 60 million people in Europe are food insecure. At the same time, each European wastes 132 kg of food on average each year. It is a paradox that costs the Union dearly in terms of health, resources, biodiversity and money, but one that can be solved in the circular economy.
When you throw away food that could have been eaten you are in fact also wasting the water, soil and energy that went into growing or producing it. That’s why the European Union focuses most of its efforts precisely on prevention, but it still has to deal with millions of tons of food waste to manage each year. And between laws, research projects, startups and innovations, it is proving to be at the forefront of the world.
Food waste in Europe
According to the latest data from the Environmental European Agency (EEA), the European Union produced 59 million tons of food waste in 2022 , with households being the main cause (55-56 percent of the total), followed by industry and primary production (26%-28%), restaurants and services (9-11 percent) and retail (7-8 percent).
“Such waste is due to the low value associated with food, especially low-cost food, the purchase of excess products in order to take advantage of promotions, lack of planning and lack of knowledge of the labeling system, particularly the difference between a food ‘to be consumed by’ or ‘ best by’ a certain date,” explains Laura Michelini, professor of management at LUMSA University in Rome.
Since the introduction of the Circular Economy Action Plan in 2015, the EU has focused on developing a common methodology for measuring waste, facilitating food donations, and improving product labeling, while the Waste Framework Directive and the Farm to Fork Strategy prioritize waste prevention, requiring states to implement specific programs to promote sustainable consumption, improve product production/design, and reduce the use of harmful substances.
The European Union then aligned with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3, which calls for halving global food waste and loss by 2030. By this date, then, EU-27 states must achieve a 10 percent reduction in processing and production and a 30 percent per capita reduction in retail and consumption.
However, most have already implemented or are developing specific food waste strategies, action plans or pacts , and an EEA analysis of 332 actions taken shows that 66 percent focus on prevention. The remainder aim to donate or redistribute excess food for human (26 percent) or animal (1 percent) consumption, while 7 percent are involved in processing food waste for energy purposes, such as anaerobic digestion ( biogas production).
For prevention, countries mainly use educational and informational initiatives (62 percent), while only 7 percent involve research and innovation actions (such as applying AI to agriculture). Yet technology is an important ally, Laura Michelini explains, “both in the procurement phase, which can be made more effective by better data analysis, and in the recovery and redistribution phase,” but also for consumers, thanks to “shopping planning apps, smart refrigerators that allow food monitoring but also smart packaging. One of Italy’s strengths lies in its vast expertise and experience in the packaging industry, a sector that accounted for 3.4 percent of manufacturing industry turnover and 2 percent of GDP in 2021. Added to this is the important supporting role offered by bodies such as COMIECO and COREPLA and the innovative proposals coming from the world of startups but not only, such as Regusto and Sfridoo, innovative platforms for matching supply and demand.”
Residuals in the field
Food waste is then differentiated between field residues, that is, what remains after the agricultural product is harvested, residues from the production and processing of the raw material into food, and post-consumption residues.
According to Nicoletta Ravasio, coordinator of Cluster SPRING‘s Scientific Technical Committee, Italy is well positioned in all three areas, and as far as residues in the field are concerned, she brings us the example of rice straw: “In Italy it is a prohibited practice, but in other countries it is often burned in the field, producing huge amounts of PM10 particulate matter, about 23 kg per hectare of rice. Alternatively, it is left to ferment in the paddy field, however, producing methane, a particularly harmful gas.”
What then to do with waste from rice production? Construction offers several answers. The National Research Council (CNR) has launched the Riceres project. “Sucid wool is nowadays a waste from sheep meat and cheese production,” Ravasio explains. “The CNR mixes it with rice straw and obtains an insulating material both thermal and acoustic to create self-supporting panels, which compared to polystyrene has advantages: it is in fact fireproof, earthquake-proof and cannot be attacked by moths.”
Similar example that of Ricehouse, an Italian green building SME that builds RiceCyclingWall prefabricated panels from rice husk, the husk discarded in the process of husking raw rice, which has a chemical composition similar to wood.
Production waste
According to Nicoletta Ravasio, the upcycling of food waste “contributes greatly to the sustainability of our businesses” sometimes even creating unexpected industrial symbioses. This is the case of Amarey, an Illy family startup specializing in products made from coffee, and Intercos, an Italian cosmetics company, whose partnership is based on silverskin, the skin that envelops the coffee bean.
“Italy does not produce coffee but it is the second largest roasting country in the world, and every year it ends up with about 10,000 tons of this husk, which is mostly disposed of as urban solid waste. Amarey’s partnership with Intercos uses it instead to extract a butter that it uses to formulate lipsticks and eye shadows that are brighter and more skin-friendly than those using other vegetable fats.”
The same silverskin is used in the production of environmentally friendly paper by Favini paper mill, which specializes in sustainable production. “Replacing 15 percent virgin pulp with this coffee husk provides significant savings in both emissions and energy consumption,” Ravasio explains. “Paper production is very energy intensive, and pulp is mostly imported from Scandinavia, Slovenia and Brazil, so it’s also a big cost savings.”
But agro-industry has many residues available that can be valorized , and almost all of them contain antioxidants, the demand for which is increasingly growing in the cosmetics sector, giving wide potential to upcycling beauty. For example, Ravasio explains, “myrtle production is increasing, and a non-greasy oil with very powerful antioxidant properties can be extracted from the macerated berry.”
Post-consumer waste
Waste from food consumption is the most difficult to manage. “Think of household wet waste, a hellish mixture of different elements that creates mold and foul odor, which is difficult to valorize except in the compost bin,” Ravasio says. ” CNR and the University of Turin are studying how to use it to breed soldier flies,” in a project that eventually leads to the production of proteins and oils useful for detergents, animal feed and fertilizers.
Another interesting all-Italian application, Ravasio continued, “is the purple athletics track at the Paris Olympics, produced by the Mondo company, which used to reinforce the rubber of this track mussel and clam shells formed essentially of calcium carbonate, which is useful for the compounding of this type of tire, even better than mineral carbonate.”
Then among the most polluting wastes if not managed properly are the used edible oils. “They are mostly recovered from restaurant kitchens and used mainly for the production of biofuels, such as SAF, Sustainable Aviation Fuel. In 2024, the Cremonini Group alone collected more than 133 tons of used vegetable oils from Chef Express and Roadhouse chains,” Ravasio concludes.
In short, “the potential for recovery is very high and there is a strong awareness on the part of both companies and institutions,” according to Laura Michelini, although “a point of weakness is the lack of knowledge about the opportunities for using food waste and the potential of implementing industrial symbiosis processes. According to ISTAT in 2022 only 5 percent of Italian companies were involved in symbiosis activities. Our country has made industrial districts a model of excellence worldwide, and I am convinced of the value of territorial connections: strengthened also by technological innovation they can represent a great opportunity for Italy.”
Cover photo by Joshua Hoehne from Unsplash
