Transforming waste into wealth: a review on microbial conversion of organic municipal wastes to value-added products
Kavya, Manasvi Vashisht, B. K. Jain, Smriti Shrivastava
Abstract
Huge quantities of municipal solid waste and food chain supply waste are unfavourable outcomes of rapid population growth and urbanization. Organic municipal waste majorly consists of decomposable, recyclable, and inert waste and contributes to 57% of municipal waste generated globally. Fruits and vegetables wastes are major component of organic municipal waste, and contains significant amount of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals and fibres that can be valorised through various innovative and sustainable strategies. One of the most important approaches is leveraging the catalytic capabilities of microbial enzymes to convert complex organic compounds to varied valuable products like, essential oils, bio-oil, ethanol, biogas, phenolics, flavonoids, anthocyanin, dietary products etc. Development of environment friendly sustainable processes also handles the challenges associated with waste disposal and boost nation’s financial status through circular bioeconomy. The present review focusses on details of major organic municipal waste, with specific emphasis on fruit and vegetable remains, their composition, management and value-added products obtained from these resources. It also gives a detailed account on green technology approach of waste valorisation through microbial enzymes, recent technological interventions involved in the process and discusses the future market potential and growth prospects in the studied area.