Towards a bio-based economy: Turning agricultural biowaste into safer agro-chemicals and additives

Central Macedonia, a region on the northern mainland of Greece, is an important producer of food. It generates a quarter of the country’s agricultural output and is the source of much of Greece’s table olives, peaches, wine and dairy products. But this productivity also results in large amounts of agricultural waste.

EU-funded researchers are now exploring how and under which conditions this waste could be recycled and reused to develop a wide range of useful bio-based products, including fertiliser, agrochemicals and even nutritional additives.

Spanish environmental engineer Pedro Villanueva Rey is coordinating a team of researchers from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK to turn various biological waste streams across Europe into new and desirable resources.

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“Introducing these secondary raw materials into the supply chain could help promote the transition towards a bio-based economy,” said Villanueva Rey.

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