Closing the Food Loop: Integrating Food Science, Urban Waste Management and Circular Economy
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Waste and Recycling".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2027 | Viewed by 22
Editors
2. Department of Recycling and Cleaning, Municipality of Athens, 122 41 Aigaleo, Greece
Interests: food-omics; NMR spectroscopy; metabolomics; chemometrics; food authenticity; circular economy; food traceability; food waste valorization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: sustainable waste management in circular economy; food waste: measurement, prevention, and valorisation; biowaste management: separate collection and treatment; composting of organic waste and residues; olive wastewater management; WEEE prevention and preparing for reuse; extended producer responsibility; industrial ecology and industrial symbiosis; environmental risks and security
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: intelligent energy management; smart cities; smart homes; decision support systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Food systems lie at the intersection of resource efficiency, public health, urban sustainability and waste generation. Among these, food waste represents a critical loss of resources, with significant environmental and socio-economic impacts. Recent advances in food science have improved the characterization, traceability, and valorization of food losses, by-products and waste, while urban waste management systems are transitioning towards circular models that emphasize resource recovery, material reuse, and the reintegration of organic matter into productive cycles.
This Special Issue seeks to connect these domains by examining how food-omics, waste characterization, composting and anaerobic digestion, bio-based products, data-driven waste management, and circular governance are able to assist in closing the food loop in cities. We particularly welcome contributions that bridge laboratory evidence and municipal and regional implementation, including household and HORECA food-waste quantification, source-separated biowaste systems, compost quality and stability, material and nutrient recovery, life-cycle assessment, and policy and governance models for circular bioeconomy transitions. Original research articles, reviews, methodological papers, and applied case studies are welcome. By integrating food science with urban operations and circular economy strategies, this Special Issue aims to attract contributions with both scientific rigor and implementation value.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Charalambos Fotakis
Prof. Dr. Katia Lasaridi
Dr. Vangelis Marinakis
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- food waste valorization
- food waste prevention
- biowaste source-separation
- urban biowaste systems
- composting
- anaerobic digestion
- bio-based products
- bio-plastics
- circular bioeconomy
- food-omics
- life-cycle and circularity assessment
- circular economy governance
- data-driven waste management
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