Can Industry Counteract the Ecological Crisis? An Approach for the Development of a New Circular Bioeconomic Model Based on Biocomposite Materials

Abstract

The ecological crisis we are facing, in addition to depleting non-renewable raw materials, has driven the emergence of biocomposite (BC) materials as a sustainable alternative that can create new opportunities for industrial product design and development. The use of biological resources in economic processes, as the bioeconomic (BE) model proposes, can lead to a transformation from the traditional linear extractive production logic to a new productive paradigm. This paper analyses technical and scientific information on the valorisation of agri-food waste to which innovative and efficient techniques and technologies have been applied, resulting in natural resource use in new products. Our review aims to explore and assess the production, development and industrial exploitation of renewable biological resources as a way to bridge the transition from the linear economic model to a circular bioeconomy (CBE) paradigm shift. For a detailed exploration and assessment of the research problem, this paper presents a comparative study between two paradigmatic projects organised and financed by different R&D programmes of the European Union (EU). We identify the agents and strategies of a potential BC innovation system, and we propose a conceptual model for the creation of an innovative and alternative industrial-scale productive value chain to replace petrochemical-based composite materials with BC and establish a new paradigm of production and consumption.