Waste to Worth: Potential Industrial Applications of Fruit-Based Husk for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

Researchers are currently focusing on discovering sustainable ways to use food waste (FW) materials as they have significant potential to develop value-added products and to reduce environmental pollution. As a result, FW management has received a lot of attentions from research institutions, industries, international and national organization in recent years. The main objectives to achieve goals such as 3 (good health and well-being), 6 (clean water and sanitation), 7 (affordable and clean energy), 8 (decent work and economic growth), 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), and 13 (climate action), among 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in accordance to the United Nations’ agenda, to make the entire world healthier, and less polluted. The intention of this review is to investigate the possibilities of fruit husks as byproducts from six significant fruits: coconut, coffee, cocoa pods, chestnut, hazelnut, and pomegranate husk. Adsorbents that remove heavy metals, dyes, pesticides, and other petroleum-related pollutants from wastewater can be made from fruit-based husks. These can be applied to produce biodiesel, organic bio-oil, bioethanol, and biogas, which are clean, affordable sources of energy. Additionally, husk biopolymeric matrices have the possibility to be effectively utilized in the bioplastics, composite films, biodegradable foams, and food-grade paper packaging production.