From waste to resource: the new frontier of agri-food waste

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about one third of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted in the transition between producer and consumer. In Europe, approximately 87.6 million tons of food are lost every year. The European Union has intervened on more than one occasion to try to put an end to this phenomenon. In particular, it recently issued the waste directive with which it invited Member States and their citizens to reduce the production of food waste between primary production and distribution; reduce food waste in families and encourage food donations; monitor and evaluate the implementation of the respective food waste prevention measures. The EU has given further impetus to the fight against food loss and waste with the presentation of the European Green New Deal. This also includes the new action plan for the circular economy, with which the European Union has provided for a system for the reuse of discarded agri-food products. In the Farm to Fork strategy, the EU is committed to reducing food waste per capita at retail and consumer levels by 50% by 2030 and to providing tools for the reuse of agri-food waste, again from an circular economic point of view. Italy intends to strengthen the strategic role of the agricultural, food and forestry sectors within the complex national economic system and in the European and international context, starting from the territories in which these activities are concentrated. It is therefore necessary that sustainability e inclusiveness become levers of competitiveness at sectoral and territorial level. To do this, it is necessary transform into value, in particular, the opportunities that can derive from the ecological transition, exploiting the bioeconomy, digitization, the circular economy, the reduction of food waste and agroecology. The objective of this work is to demonstrate how agri-food waste can become a resource and contribute to achieving the objectives set by the European Green New Deal. 92 Mario Peppe and Davide Peppe