Circular bioeconomy and sustainability

Abstract

Concepts of the circular economy and bioeconomy have come to the forefront in the past decade as a means to maximize biomass or raw material use, reutilize by-products, waste and bio-waste, as well as to reduce demand for fossil fuels or maximize resource efficiency. Several strategies have been designed to that effect, such as biomass cascading for exploitation of all feasible value-added products, effective recycling or valorization of wastes and biowastes, or regenerative farming and circular farming approaches to ensure healthy farm ecosystems for sustainable food production. Such innovative strategies are particularly critical for the sustainable existence of human civilizations within the planetary boundaries. Nonetheless, bottlenecks exist due to the high cost of such manufacturing processes, inherent inefficiencies of bioprocesses, and overall resource efficiencies. Technological R&D is undoubtedly important in devising innovative and efficient processes, but they should also be supported and mitigated with bioeconomy clusters, effective and cohesive science policies, public awareness and skills management, which is required for the increased production power based on increased knowledge of the bioeconomy. © 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.