Circular economy in food industry

Abstract

The concept of the circular economy goes beyond the outdated idea of the linear economy, which involves the uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources, and the material flows from the factory through the user to the landfill. In the circular economy, the circle product - waste - product is closed. It is expected from the industry to function as a natural eco-system, and waste from one industry becomes a raw material to another industry, i.e. to stimulate circulation, from which the term circular originates. The circular economy is a general term that encompasses all activities that reduce, reuse, and recycle materials in the processes of production, distribution, and consumption. Taking into account the projections for population growth on Earth, the food industry is expected to increase production, which inevitably carries an increase in the amount of generated waste. Organic components of vegetable waste are of interest for further use because they contain large quantities of highly valuable molecules. This paper aimed to show that waste from the food industry is not waste but a raw material that can be incorporated into other processes, which are the basic principles of circular economy - regeneration and circulation. The wine industry, as a major industry for the grape as raw material, creates large quantities of such waste. In the literature review are provided various innovative solutions that show what to do next with wine by-products, especially grape hush. Besides using in the industry of strong drinks, through composting or as a forage supplement, new solutions are presented. They are: the hush as a significant bioenergy source; the use of the most important substances from the hush, such as polyphenolic compounds, dietary fiber, tartaric acid, oils; the hush as a raw material for the production of biofuels, enzymes, biosurfactants, etc.