Agri-Food Waste Management and Treatment Approaches for Environmental Sustainability

The population of the world is increasing in an exponential manner. Along with this increase, the demand for food is proportionally intensifying the agricultural and food-producing sectors to produce very large quantities of high-energy and nutritional food products. During this process, many types of agri-food wastes in the form of crop residues, food leftovers, kitchen wastes, and livestock manures are generated. Although these types of waste can be managed very aptly, these are being either burnt or improperly dumped by people so as to gain high profit margins and contribute least to environmental sustainability and circular bioeconomy. Thus, carbon enormously escapes from these organic wastes and as an outcome greenhouse effect and climate change. This chapter intends to present some subtle alternative approaches to manage and treat agri-food wastes such as composting, production of biochar, using crop residues for cultivating edible mushroom, producing energy sources, organic fertilizers, animal feed, and bioactive compounds instead of improper and unregulated dumping and disposal. The importance of maximal valorisation of agri-food wastes has to be outlined. Integrated efforts of common people and administrative responses need to be initiated for the remedy as well as to make the country self-dependent in terms of energy sources. The aim should be the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by at least 10–15% at the national level by 2030.