Waste to Worth: A Review on Utilization of Vegetable Waste

Abstract

India is the world's second greatest producer of vegetables after China, however over 30% of the fruits and vegetables grown in the country are wasted. Vegetable wastes include rotten vegetables, peels, shells, scraped portions of vegetables and inedible parts discarded during collection, handling, transportation and processing. Lack of knowledge and awareness among farmers, poor infrastructure, faulty harvesting, unsuitable transport and storage facilities are major causes of loss. 5 R system of waste management including refuse, reduce, recycle, reuse and recover is an effective way of managing vegetable waste. Non-toxic, biodegradable waste of vegetables can be transformed into various valuable output products like biogas, power alcohol, biofuel, compost and vermicompost. Livestock is currently one of the agricultural subsectors in emerging countries that is expanding at the fastest rate. According to recent research, co-products from the processing of fruits and vegetables can be effectively utilized as functional feed components in farm animals' diets. Vegetable wastes are rich in vitamins and minerals and are suitable raw materials to produce high-value chemicals or metabolites such as phenolic compounds, terpenes, fatty acids, dietary fiber, saponins, pigments, food additives and phytoestrogens Bio-plastic are manufactured from renewable biomass sources such as maize starch, potato starch, cassava starch, vegetable oil and have biodegradable qualities. The utilization of fruit and vegetable waste as a carbon source is an interesting alternative to reduce the production costs of microbial exopolysaccharides like xanthan and pullulan which has use in the pharmaceutical, medical, cosmetic and confectionary industries.