Waste4Soil project aims at developing applicable recycling technical pathways to transform food processing residues (FPR) into soil improvers, through a circular, systemic and multi actor approach at regional level involving all food chain actors, thereby closing specific loops (nutrients, organic matter, water).
To optimize food processing residues (FPR) valorisation from source, the Waste4Soil project will design a waste management guideline to understand and conserve FPR’s streams, while avoiding external pollutant and deterioration.
To be relevant, the whole soil improvers production system must be in line with farmers’ needs and with food industry resources, while being environmentally sustainable, economically viable and socially acceptable. This last point implies a genuine involvement of citizens in the project implementation.
The project aims at supporting food systems with easy and clear solutions, processes and strategies, going beyond the specific location and its pedo-climatic conditions, the local waste management systems or regulation.
To do so, standards will be developed to answer practitioners needs and ease the application of the solutions.
The project will cover a great variety of FPR: fruits and vegetables, olive oil residues, wine industry, meat industry by-products, dairy products, cereals, and fish.
Covering a broad range of FPR is key, because they do not have the same impacts and potential. FPR will be characterised in terms of bulk composition, also to determine the preferred way to valorise them. The developed methodology is meant to be spread to improve FPR knowledge across Europe.