Food Waste Management via Insect Production in the Perspective of Circular Bioeconomy

Abstract

The amount of different types of waste around the world is growing every year. Especially a growing amount of food waste is in desperate need of better management practices. At the same time, European Union (EU) is striving for becoming the world's first climate-neutral continent which requires immediate solutions for issues like waste management, sustainable production, competitive resource-efficient business models, etc. For achieving these goals, business models fulfilling principles of circular bioeconomy are highly supported by the EU. One of such business models could be the rearing of Black Soldier Larvae (BSF) on various types of biowaste and their use for value-added products like animal feed, fertilizers, biofuel, cosmetic ingredients, etc. This study reviews adopted Bioeconomy strategies and investigates the state of the research and development in the field of BSF rearing through statistical analysis of the available scientific publications, published patents, and established companies in the EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Member states. The results show an exponential increase in all three indicators in the last decade.