Microbial Processes for Upcycling Food Wastes Into Sustainable Bioplastics

Huge amounts of food waste are produced worldwide by means of agricultural processing, food shipping and storage, as well as everyday human consumption. The valorization of food wastes into a spectrum of marketable products represents a promising strategy for dealing with waste, while addressing the goals of a sustainable development, i.e. food security, environmental protection, and energy efficiency. This chapter provides insight on the latest trends in food waste valorization, focusing on their exploitation for the synthesis of microbial polyesters, the Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). The recent advancements in PHA application in the field of food packaging are deepened, highlighting the main solutions adopted to customize and functionalize the synthesized materials.