Traditional knowledge at the centre of a circular bioeconomy

Mainstream bioeconomic strategies often prioritize uniformity and marketability, transforming biological materials into standardized feedstocks and codifying knowledge into intellectual property, with success measured by the extent to which these innovations can be scaled and replicated across geographies². Although such an approach facilitates broad application, it frequently severs biological materials from the ecological contexts and stewardship necessary for their sustained use and regeneration. By contrast, traditional knowledge systems, that is, skills, practices and insights that emerge from a community’s long-standing relationship with its environment, approach these resources not as commodities, but as components of living systems³. Guided by principles of restraint, reciprocity and adaptive reuse, traditional knowledge systems have historically enabled circular flows of food, nutrients and energy⁴.

Given the climate impacts of industrial food production and the pressure to feed a growing population, the food system is an important focus of circular bioeconomy experimentation¹. When applied to food, circularity is usually framed through the lens of food waste valorization: transforming surplus and discarded food into new food products, compost, biogas and animal feed among other things. Today, innovation in this area is often seen as groundbreaking, even radical. Yet, the underlying logic of extending the utility of biological materials through cascading uses is hardly novel. Agrarian societies across the world have long managed food and nutrient flows through practices that are, in essence, circular. For instance, in the Andean highlands, surplus potatoes are freeze-dried into chuño for long-term storage under extreme climatic conditions. In parts of West Africa, cassava peels and harvest residues are detoxified through fermentation and reused as livestock feed, reducing both waste and feed costs. In the Mediterranean region, citrus peels are candied, made into liqueurs, used in cleaning products and fed to livestock. Korean households have historically preserved excess or blemished vegetables by fermenting them into kimchi, extending shelf life and maintaining nutritional value across seasons. Coastal and Arctic Indigenous communities reuse fish heads, bones, skins and viscera not only for broths and nutritional supplements, but also for traditional medicines and skin salves.