The potential of agri-food waste to solve construction's environmental problems: A review

Abstract

The transition from a linear to a circular economy became essential for the dissociation between economic development and increasing resource consumption. The management of agri-food waste requires special attention, as a large part is deposited in landfills or incinerated. It is essential to explore innovative solutions that allow the application of agri-food waste in different sectors. Official data stated that every year, around 500 million tons of waste are generated globally in the agricultural sector (Yaashikaa, Senthil Kumar, and Varjani 2022). Conversely, the construction industry is resource intensive and therefore causes serious and diverse environmental impacts, from the depletion of natural resources to the generation of great amounts of waste. It is therefore urgent to search for solutions to reduce these impacts through the implementation of the circular economy. Several studies have demonstrated the potential of using agri-food residues as products for building materials, some of which improve their durability and their physical and mechanical properties. The use of these wastes/by-products enables the construction of more sustainable buildings, contributing to the reduction of the environmental impact associated with both agri-food and construction sectors. This work aims to develop a systematic literature review to identify, evaluate, and integrate the current success cases and applications, as well as relevant evidence on this subject, to identify promising approaches and trends for future agri-food /construction integrated development toward sustainability and circularity. To achieve this, 50 research papers in this context, published between 2020 and 2023, were analyzed and discussed.