Circular economy and secondary raw materials from fruits as sustainable source for recovery and reuse. A review

Background: The circular economy is an important concept in many areas of the world, many production sectors and above all within agricultural and food production. The agro-food sector has become especially aware of the problem of disposal and/or reuse of waste, which is better defined as secondary raw materials (SRM). The SRM of agro-food origin have an important value quantified in molecular and functional compounds.Scope and approach: We have reviewed many documents concerning food wastes and their re-evaluation as SRM in the agro-food industrial chain. In this work, we gathered scientific literature from the last 60 years regarding not only this concept but also the actual SRM composition of food and which among those can be obtained in compliance with the principle of a circular economy. Initially, our goal was to research and highlight SRMs derived from the processing and conservation of fruit.Key findings and conclusions: The results showed the current state of both SRM production and their possible and current use. The data revealed that the main sectors in witch SRM are actually employed are chemical, pharmaceutical, food and nutraceutical ones. We also found that the amount of discarded parts overall represents 50% for all fruit families. In a systematic way, the gaps that the current system shows in the aspects of the valorisation of the SRM have been highlighted. The wide diversity of uses for SRMs obtained from food have emerged a common factor and a guiding thread for the evaluation of these by products. Their reutilization has been highlighted considering different families of fruit plants and the SRMs produced within.

Automated summary

The circular economy is an important concept in various regions and sectors, especially agriculture and food production. SRMs (secondary raw materials) in the agro-food sector have significant value. This study reviewed numerous documents on food wastes and their re-evaluation as SRMs in the agro-food industry.