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Nutrient recovery and recycling from fishery waste and by-products
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This review provides a comprehensive overview of nutrient recovery technologies for fishery waste and by-products, including fish processing waste, sludge, and aquaculture residues. The study highlights that these nutrient-rich waste streams hold significant potential for producing alternative fertilizers that could replace synthetic mineral fertilizers, supporting the European Commission's goals for a more circular and sustainable food system.
The circular bio-based economy offers great untapped potential for the food industry as possible valuable products and energy can be recovered from food waste. This can promote more sustainable and resilient food systems in Europe in follow-up of the European Commission's Farm to Fork strategy and support the global transition to more sustainable agri-food systems with the common agricultural and fisheries policies. With its high nutrient content, waste and by-products originating from fish and seafood industry (including aquaculture) are one of the most promising candidates to produce alternative fertilising products which can play a crucial role to replace synthetic mineral fertilisers. Whereas several studies highlighted the opportunities to recover valuable compounds from fishery waste, study towards their potential for the production of fertilising products is still scarce. This study presents an extensive overview of the characteristics of fishery waste and by-products (i.e., fish processing waste, fish sludge, seafood waste/by-products), the state-of-the-art nutrient recovery technologies and recovered nutrients as fertilising products from these waste streams. The European Commission has already adopted a revised Fertilising Products Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 providing opportunities for fertilising products from various bio-based origins. In frame of this opportunity, we address the quality and safety aspects of the fishery waste-derived fertilising products under these criteria and highlight possible obstacles on their way to the market in the future. Considering its high nutrient content and vast abundance, fish sludge has a great potential but should be treated/refined before being applied to soil. In addition to the parameters currently regulated, it is crucial to consider the salinity levels of such fertilising products as well as the possible presence of other micropollutants especially microplastics to warrant their safe use in agriculture. The agronomic performance of fishery waste-derived fertilisers is also compiled and reported in the last section of this review paper, which in most cases perform equally to that of conventional synthetic fertilisers.
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This review explores the potential of using seafood processing waste — fish offal, shellfish shells, and aquaculture effluents — as natural fertilizers in modern farming systems. While these byproducts are rich in nutrients and could reduce reliance on synthetic fertilizers, the paper also flags important food safety concerns, including the presence of microplastics in marine-derived materials that could be introduced to agricultural soils. The authors conclude that seafood-derived fertilizers are promising for circular agriculture, but careful screening for contaminants including microplastics is essential before widespread adoption.
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