Food waste (FW) is ever challenging to the environmental, economic, and society due to exponential disposal. The global population has been continuing to that grow results the FW dumping thus urgent need for sustainable solutions. Food waste management (FWM) strategies such as biological conversion, thermal conversion, chemical conversion, mechanical and physical processing are aids to recover and utilize the valuable resources from FW. These conventional methods are optimal approach depends on feedstock composition, target products, scale of operation, and economic considerations. The various methodologies are used for converting FW into value-added products, including biofuels, biochemicals, animal feed, and fertilizers etc. The aim of this review is to explore various conventional valorization FWM techniques to produce value-added products and their applications. In addition, examined the environmental and economic benefits of FW valorization that highlights the importance of integrated approaches as combined waste reduction, recovery, and recycling strategies to create a circular economy. Overall, this review delivers the FW valorization as sustainable solution for reducing waste generation, promoting resource recovery, and creating new economic opportunities for food industry.
Sivalingam et al. (2026) studied this question.