Circular Economy in Agri-Food Sector: Food Waste Management Perspective

Reducing the food waste is the greatest challenge in the present times for sustainable food management systems that have significant economic, environmental and social impact on the food supply chain. The Circular Economy (CE) paradigm advocates the concept of the closed-loop economy endorsing more responsible utilization and appropriate exploitation of resources in contrast to the open-ended linear economic system of take-make-use and dispose. This chapter has explored Agri-Food waste in the context of CE, triple bottom line (TBL), and sustainability. An alignment of circular strategies with the food waste hierarchy is proposed that indicates practical application of the gradations of circularity in the food waste management that could lead to the development of sustainable food management system targeting the sustainable development goals of Zero Hunger and Responsible consumption and production. This chapter also highlights some opportunities and challenges of Agri-Food waste in the application of circular bio-economy.