By-products
and waste generation are having an impact on environmental, economic,
and social sectors.
To the environment, these contribute to GreenHouse
Gas (GHG) emissions. Many of these biomaterials are not utilised and end
up in municipal landfills where they create serious environmental
problems due to microbial decomposition and leachate production. In some
cases, the by-products are burned to remove fungi and parasites. From
the economic point of view, the adverse impact is due to the costs
related to the handling of solid waste in landfills. Moreover, the
management of large amounts of different degradable materials poses a
challenge.
However,
there is an increasing need for biodegradable, environmentally friendly
and functional food-packaging materials. In this regard, proteins
obtained from agri-food industry by-products may become a promising and
sustainable (less impact, valorisation) source of such materials.
