The saying “one person’s waste is another’s resource” describes the core idea of the circular economy, where unused resources, including food, are passed on for further use or processing instead of being discarded as waste.
The circular economy is an approach to the production and consumption of any goods or products. In the context of food, its aim is to extend the lifecycle of food products by ensuring their redistribution for human consumption, use as animal feed, or transformation into new products or secondary raw materials, thereby preserving the value of food resources for as long as possible.
Both food production and food consumption, unfortunately, cannot be completely waste-free. Only part of food waste can be considered avoidable food waste. These are edible parts of food that are not used in food production or consumed. Possibly avoidable food waste refers to edible parts that can be used in the preparation or cooking of certain dishes, such as peels, stems and leaves of root vegetables, and cheese rinds. However, there is also unavoidable food waste—inedible parts such as bones, fish bones and scales, shells and husks, mollusk shells, cores, peels, stems and seeds, and coffee grounds—which are more difficult to avoid.
Approximately 27.5 thousand tonnes of food waste are generated annually in food production. If this amount were distributed per capita, it would be about 15 kg per inhabitant of Latvia. This represents around 15% of all food waste generated across the entire food supply chain: primary production (growing), processing (food manufacturing), retail, catering, and household consumption.
The largest share of food waste—58%—is generated in dairy production. A relatively large share—25%—comes from meat and meat product production, processing, and preservation. 9% arises from processing and preserving fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. Beverage production accounts for only 2% of food waste, and fruit and vegetable processing and preservation for 1%.
The reasons why food waste occurs in food production companies vary; the most common include:
Damaged raw materials, products, or product packaging;
Deterioration of raw material quality;
Lack of solutions for processing by-products;
Inaccurate demand forecasting;
Cancelled orders;
Unavoidable processes.
A more appropriate term in the context of the circular economy is not food waste, but food leftovers. This is because circular food production helps not to discard food leftovers as waste but to process them into new, often high-value food products, raw materials, or other resources.
Both edible and inedible parts of food generated during food production, as well as food production by-products (e.g., whey, fish heads, skin, bones), and food leftovers generated at other stages of the supply chain that have not been sold or consumed can be processed in a circular way. Circular food production uses food residues or by-products to preserve their valuable raw materials by transforming them into new food products or consumer goods.
In Latvia, there are several companies oriented towards the circular economy that produce food products using food leftovers and by-products. The best-known examples of circular food production include:
By-products of fermented dairy production—whey, which makes up about 50% of all dairy production residues—used by the joint-stock company “Smiltenes piens” to produce another product, the whey protein drink “Piena spēks”;
A by-product of beer production—spent grain—used by SIA “Valmiermuižas alus” in the production of spent grain cookies.
These circular initiatives are notable because the production of new products uses food leftovers and by-products generated within the same company from the production of other products.
There are also examples in Latvia where circular production uses food leftovers and by-products generated in other companies:
Fish processing residues—heads, fins, scales, bones, and fresh non-food fish—used by the company “Venta FM” to produce fish oil and fish meal for animal feed;
Use of plant-based waste for breeding insects intended for animal feed (especially poultry), initiated by the company “Biomund”.
Such cooperation-based production is called industrial symbiosis. It is not a waste management system, but a circular, system-based approach to production where the by-product or even waste of one participant becomes a valuable resource for the production process of another nearby company. This is an approach closer to the future of food production, with significant and so far underutilized potential for profit and innovation in Latvia.
Symbiosis that uses food by-products and leftovers generated outside the company is referred to as biological industrial symbiosis. Although in Latvia food waste within industrial symbiosis is mainly used for energy production—most commonly biogas—there is untapped potential to create higher value-added products, for example:
Spent grain can also be used as a substrate for growing shiitake or oyster mushrooms or as a base for animal feed production;
Eggshells can be used in the production of food, including dietary supplements, health and skincare products, as well as animal feed, soil improvement, and water purification;
Liquid yeast—a by-product of beer production and baking—can be used in the production of food, including dietary supplements, health and skincare products, as well as animal feed, artificial leather, and biomaterials.
In other countries, there is a wide range of circular production initiatives where food residues or by-products are used to create new products. Some examples include:
Starch, sucrose, fructose, and cellulose obtained from biomass used in plastic bottle production,
Fish skins left over from processing used to produce materials for clothing and accessories,
Collagen, fish oil, and mineral supplements produced from fish processing residues,
Food packaging—especially single-use items—made from vegetable residues such as banana peels and tomato plants mixed with agricultural waste,
Leather-like material produced from pineapple leaves used in footwear production,
Foams for building insulation, panels, and boards produced from fungi mixed with agricultural waste.
One of the main reasons why there are still relatively few circular food production initiatives in Latvia is that circular economy-based production differs significantly from the traditional linear economy, where the principle is “produce – consume – discard,” focused solely on economic growth and dependent on cheap raw materials and available financing. In contrast, the circular economy follows the principle “reduce – reuse – recycle.” It ensures a reduction in food overconsumption, the amount of food discarded as waste, and environmental impact, while extending the lifecycle of food products and preserving the value of food resources. Moreover, industrial symbiosis is not possible without mutual trust and cooperation between companies in achieving both individual and shared goals.
For companies, adopting a circular production approach can be a significant challenge due to differing efficiency criteria, raw material supply, infrastructure, public perception and demand for circular products. The lack of best practice examples and experience, as well as the dominance and popularity of linear economy values, are considerable barriers preventing all food from becoming circular—that is, produced, delivered, prepared, and consumed responsibly, with its leftovers returned to the cycle at the highest possible value.
In Latvia, understanding and experience regarding the reuse of food resources and industrial symbiosis are still in the early stages of development. Extensive efforts to raise awareness among companies and the public are being carried out within the LIFE integrated project “Waste as Resources in Latvia – Promoting Regional Sustainability and Circularity through the Introduction of the Waste as a Resource Concept.”
In Latvia, various other circular initiatives related indirectly to food production have also been implemented:
The food bank “Paēduši Latvijai”,
Community food cupboards, shelves, or refrigerators,
Last-minute food markets,
Feeding food leftovers to animals,
Community composting,
Production of bioproducts,
Community cooking workshops such as “Disco Soup,” where food that can still be saved from being discarded is used,
Digital applications for rescuing food from being wasted by connecting local food service providers with consumers who want to purchase meals at a lower price, e.g., Portsia, Too Good To Go, Foodhero, Olio,
Cooking from leftovers,
Fermenting, marinating, salting, pickling, etc., for longer storage of food leftovers.
Preventing food waste begins with awareness and responsible attitudes towards food cultivation, production and distribution, product purchasing, meal preparation, and food waste management.
Circular food production is the industrial transformation of food leftovers and food production by-products into value-added products. These should take a permanent place in our consumption.
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