Estimating Food Processing By-Product Volumes Across the EU: A Comprehensive Assessment to Support the Circular Bioeconomy

Description

The EU Bioeconomy Strategy (EC, 2018) advocates for the utilization of secondary bio-based resources to produce value-added products, contributing to a circular bioeconomy. However, the lack of harmonized and quantitative data on the availability of these resources across different regions poses significant challenges for regional valorization efforts. Moreover, the UN Sustainable Development Agenda (UN, 2015) does not outline targeted actions for managing food processing by-products, nor is there a uniform reporting procedure for by-products like the one for food waste in the EU (EC, 2019). This has lead to under-reported resource flows and suboptimal usage. Addressing this gap, a study by De Laurentiis et al. (2023) employed a material flow analysis across the EU food supply chain but lacked detailed estimates for specific by-products. Haller et al. (2022) emphasize that precise resource quantification can reveal underutilized resource flows, while Soloha et al. (2024) introduced a standard method for estimating by-product volumes in eight Northern European countries. Building on this work, the present study aims to expand the geographical scope to other European countries, facilitating an overall estimation of by-products across the EU and enabling cross-country comparisons.
This study utilizes the method developed by Soloha et al. (2024) to estimate by-products from the food processing and manufacturing industries in the EU. Data were sourced from the FAOSTAT "Food Balances: Supply Utilization Accounts" database, covering food production data from 2015 to 2021. Forty unique crop and livestock food products (excluding meat) were selected from the production data of processed products. By-product volumes were calculated using compiled data from scientific and grey literature for the corresponding processed food products. The study exclusively analyzed original research articles on bio-valorization, defined as the use of living organisms or their enzymes for valorization purposes, focusing on methods that utilize by-products derived from the selected crop and livestock products.
The study presents estimates of food industry by-product volumes for each of the EU-27 countries between 2015 and 2021. By-products are categorized into dairy, fruits and vegetables, roots and tubers, oils and fats, cereals, brewery and winery, and other categories (including eggs, coffee, groundnut, and cocoa). These estimates provide a detailed understanding of by-product availability and highlight significant differences among individual countries. This research offers crucial data-driven insights to support the development of the circular bioeconomy, providing a comprehensive overview of the total annual by-product volumes and their potential for bio-valorization. The findings underscore the need for further research to refine by-product estimates and assess their suitability for producing value-added products. Aligning by-product availability with regional circular bioeconomy growth potential is essential to address the environmental, technical, economic, and social challenges of transitioning to a circular bioeconomy. The study highlights the importance of data-driven approaches to inform policy and practice, ensuring an efficient and equitable transition towards sustainable development goals.

Period	10 Oct 2024 → 11 Oct 2024
Event title	The 6th Working Groups Workshop of the COST Action CA20127 "WIRE: Waste biorefinery technologies for accelerating sustainable energy processes",
Event type	Workshop
Location	Novi Sad, SerbiaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International