ABSTRACT
Food industry generates large amounts of wastes with a high negative impact on the environment. Wastes are generated when food is produced (i.e., crop wastes), packed and consumed (i.e., plastic cutlery). Food Design is an emerging field of research where the circular economy approach can be used as a tool to create local organic materials from food industry biowaste which could be used to design products that will substitute other products that generate trash.
The aim of the present study was to generate case studies that inspire others for the creation of new circular materials and solutions in the food sector, which can have positive impacts al local level, by taking advantage of the unused organic flows of the same industry (i.e., crops waste, food waste, etc).
In this research different circular biomaterials and products were created by students of the Engineering Design Master, under the supervision of experts in the fields of Food Design, Industrial Design and Circular and Sustainable Design. Then, materials and products created by students were analyzed by expert in the fields of Food Design, Industrial Design and Circular and Sustainable Design who qualitative and quantitative indicators to determine their level of circularity and its potential for scalability.
Case studies presented in this article evidence that there is a great potential to create circular and compostable products with food waste for the food industry. Nevertheless, further steps will be required in the future to connect this emerging knowledge with the industry to go from local solutions to systematic solutions which could be applied in the entire sector.
