circular economy – Page 5

Plant-Based Meat Analogues: Exploring Proteins, Fibers and Polyphenolic Compounds as Functional Ingredients for Future Food Solutions

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This review explores how plant-based ingredients can be used to create meat-like products that are healthier and more sustainable. By combining plant proteins, fibers, and natural compounds from fruits and vegetables, scientists are developing meat alternatives that taste and feel like real meat while offering nutritional and environmental benefits. The paper discusses which plants work best, how to extract and use these ingredients, and what challenges still need to be overcome to make these products widely available and affordable.

Agricultural Waste-Derived Biopolymers for Sustainable Food Packaging: Challenges and Future Prospects

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This review explores how agricultural waste like rice husks and corn cobs can be transformed into eco-friendly packaging materials to replace harmful plastic. Currently, most plastics take hundreds of years to decompose and cause serious environmental damage, but biopolymers derived from farm waste are completely biodegradable. The article discusses various ways to extract these materials and improve their properties, while identifying remaining challenges that need to be solved before widespread commercial adoption.

Mushroom stem-based diets elicit region-specific shifts in rainbow trout gut microbiota

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Researchers fed rainbow trout different diets containing mushroom stem waste from grocery stores for six weeks and studied how the mushroom ingredients affected the fish’s gut bacteria. They found that mushroom diets promoted beneficial bacteria in different parts of the fish’s intestine without harming the fish. This research shows that mushroom waste can be recycled into healthy fish feed while supporting the fish’s digestive health and supporting a more circular food system.

Innovative applications and therapeutic potential of oilseeds and their by-products: An eco-friendly and sustainable approach

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This review explains how leftover materials from oilseed processing, which are usually discarded as waste, contain valuable nutrients and healing compounds. These by-products can be used to make healthier foods like bread, burgers, and drinks, or turned into supplements and medicines. By using these materials instead of wasting them, we can reduce environmental problems, provide better nutrition, and create sustainable food products that help prevent diseases like diabetes and heart problems.

Development and Characterization of Mycelium-Based Composite Using Agro-Industrial Waste and Ganoderma lucidum as Insulating Material

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Researchers developed an eco-friendly insulation material using mushroom mycelium (Ganoderma lucidum) combined with waste plant materials from Colombia: Arboloco pith and grass clippings. The resulting material is lightweight, thermally efficient, and comparable to commercial insulators like expanded polystyrene. However, the material shrinks significantly and absorbs water when exposed to moisture, so additional treatments are needed before it can be widely used in buildings.

Mushroom stem-based diets elicit region-specific shifts in rainbow trout gut microbiota

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Researchers fed rainbow trout different diets made partly from mushroom stem waste and found that these ingredients beneficially changed the bacteria living in the fish’s gut. Different parts of the fish’s digestive system showed different changes in bacterial communities, suggesting these mushroom ingredients work in region-specific ways. The mushroom-based diets reduced harmful bacteria and increased beneficial ones, potentially improving fish health. This research shows how mushroom waste can be recycled into nutritious feed for farmed fish while promoting their health.

Quantification of fungal biomass in mycelium composites made from diverse biogenic side streams

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Scientists have developed a new method to measure how much fungal material is actually in mushroom-based composites, which are sustainable alternatives to plastics. By extracting and analyzing fungal DNA, they found that different mushroom species require different amounts of fungal growth to create stable materials, and the type of waste material used also matters significantly. This research helps manufacturers optimize production of these eco-friendly composites while also showing that various agricultural and industrial waste streams can be successfully converted into useful materials.

Bacterial Cellulose for Scalable and Sustainable Bio-Gels in the Circular Economy

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Bacterial cellulose is a naturally produced material that offers an eco-friendly alternative to plastics and synthetic fabrics. Scientists are developing efficient ways to produce it using waste products from food and agricultural industries through fermentation with special bacteria. This approach not only creates useful materials for textiles, packaging, and medical applications but also helps reduce environmental waste. The technology is advancing rapidly with genetic engineering techniques that can increase production yields and customize the material properties for different uses.

Spent casing, Sphagnum moss, grass fibers, and green compost as peat alternatives in casing soils for Agaricus bisporus cultivation

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Researchers tested alternative materials to replace peat in the soil layer used for growing button mushrooms. They found that moss and compost could replace up to 75% of peat without reducing mushroom yields, though grass-based materials were less effective. The study shows it is possible to move toward more sustainable mushroom farming while maintaining productivity and controlling plant diseases.

Impact of bottom ash addition on Pleurotus ostreatus cultivation on coffee ground substrate

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This study investigated growing oyster mushrooms on a mixture of used coffee grounds and coal plant bottom ash. The researchers found that adding small amounts of bottom ash (1-5%) slowed mushroom growth slightly but actually reduced harmful heavy metals in the final mushrooms compared to using only coffee grounds. The leftover substrate after mushroom harvest could be used as a fertilizer for poor soils, creating a complete recycling system that turns industrial and food waste into useful products.

Research Topic: circular economy