Transforming trash: strategies to develop waste into a feedstock for a circular bioeconomy

Abstract

Organic by-product and waste streams generated from agriculture and food production are important future feedstocks for manufacturing chemicals, polymers, and other materials in a circular bioeconomy. These waste streams are currently underutilized and under-explored in the context of biomanufacturing though much funding and infrastructure have been made available for their use in energy generation. The natural ability of microorganisms to utilize compounds in organic wastes, coupled with advances in engineering biology that enable scientists to manipulate biological systems to produce chemicals, polymers, and materials, and improve upon those processes, present a promising technological approach to the utilization of these waste streams as feedstocks. However, the characteristics of waste streams make them challenging to incorporate into biomanufacturing processes. These challenges can be addressed with additional advances in engineering biology research and thoughtful approaches to process development. Research and process development around the use of existing, localized waste streams present distinct benefits and raise interesting considerations, and are important undertakings. These activities will be as complex as the waste streams targeted; as such, coordination of efforts across relevant agencies and organizations, and collaborations between researchers, waste generators, customers, and other stakeholders will be critical to their success. To make meaningful and rapid contributions towards utilization of organic wastes as biomanufacturing feedstocks we recommend: (1) The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) at the US Department of Agriculture should incorporate into existing programs the development of organic waste conversion into chemicals, polymers, and other materials using engineering biology and, if possible, establish new programs focused on this area; and (2) NIFA should oversee, coordinate, and publicize collaborative efforts that include federal agencies, state and regional agricultural research centers and cooperatives, and program-related infrastructure.