Abstract

To stay wealthy in a world where all can live in prosperity and wellbeing, it is necessary to develop sustainable growth at net zero emissions to stop climate change, neutralizing both risks and diseases such as the COVID-19 pandemic and inequalities. Changing the worldwide use of the great quantity of food loss and waste can help to move in this direction. At this purpose, it seems useful to transform food waste into richness, extracting and using its content in natural ingredients and biopolymers to make new sustainable products and goods, including cosmetics and medical devices. Many of these ingredients are not only bioactive molecules considered of interest to produce these consumer products but are also useful in reducing the environmental footprint. The active agents may be obtained, for example, from waste material such as grapes or olive pomace, which include, among others natural polymers, phythosterols, vitamins, minerals and unsaturated fatty acids. Among the polymers, chitin and lignin have shown particular interest because biodegradable, nontoxic, skin- and environmentally friendly ingredients can be obtained at low cost from food and forestry waste, respectively. According to our experience, these polymers may be used to make nanocomposites and micro-nanoparticles that encapsulate different active ingredients, and which may be embedded into gel and non-woven tissues to realize advanced medications and smart cosmeceuticals. However, to utilize food waste in the best possible way, a better education of both industry and the consumer is considered necessary, introducing all to change the ways of production and living. The consumer has to understand the need to privilege, food, cosmetics and goods by selecting products known to be effective that also have a low release of carbon dioxide. Thus, they must pay heed to purchasing cosmetics and medical devices made by natural ingredients and packaged by biodegradable and/or reusable containers that are possibly plastic free. Conversely, the industry must try to use natural raw materials obtained from waste by changing their actual production methods. Therefore, both industry and the consumer should depart from the linear economy, which is based on taking, making, and producing waste, to move into a circular economy, which is based on redesigning, reducing, reusing and recycling. Some examples will report on the possibility to use natural polymers, including chitin and lignin, to produce new cosmeceutical tissues. These innovative tissues, to be used as biodegradable carriers for making smart cosmetics and medical devices, may be produced at zero waste to save our health and the planet biodiversity.

Highlights

  • Food Industry has increased research studies by a manufacturer consumer-oriented approach with the aim to optimize the food-chain production and utilize its waste for obtaining active ingredients to be used for producing functional food and advanced medications, diet supplements and natural cosmetics, involving in this new business other industrial sectors of developing countries [105,106]

  • Continuing to invest in research and innovation to stop the food losses and turning waste into valuable products, it will be possible to increase the profitability of food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, ensuring an healthy environment in addition to a sustainable development for all [113]

  • Consumers education together with industry research and innovation represent the key to transitioning from a plastic-based economy to a bio-based ones, by changing the production of feedstock and non recyclable petrol-based materials in favor of degradable fossil-free goods, medical devices and cosmetics [124,125,126,127]

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Summary

Introduction

Global food lost and waste, which represent about 17% of the productive process, has Introduction. Horticulture, is one of the industries with the highest production covering around 38% of the global agricultural production, 65% of which is represented from vegetables and fruits, including tomato, onion, grapes, orange, potato, wheat etc This Industrial field, generates food loss and waste such as orange and lemon peels, grapes and olive oil pomaces, sugarcane bagasse, wheat straw among others, all coming from specific processes such as pulping, peeling, straining, and branching [47]. This waste increases the deterioration of the Environment, and contributes to the scarcity of resources, loosing the opportunity to contribute to the feeding of a growing world population [47]. Regarding the biotechnologies used to extract an characterize the million tons of food waste it is to remember the utilization of the microorganisms which, cultured under different nutrient and environmental conditions, are frequently used to produce biodegradable polymers by the electrospinning technique and through the fermentation of carbohydrates obtained from agricultural by-products such as corn and wheat [52,53,54,55,56,57]

Biofunctional Textiles and Nanocomposites for Medical and Cosmetic Use
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