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Towards a Circular Bioeconomy? Pathways and Spatialities of Agri‐Food Waste Valorisation
Author(s) -
Klein Oliver,
Nier Stefan,
Tamásy Christine
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-9663
pISSN - 0040-747X
DOI - 10.1111/tesg.12500
Subject(s) - valorisation , nexus (standard) , circular economy , externality , extant taxon , reuse , business , economics , natural resource economics , economic geography , industrial organization , economy , engineering , market economy , waste management , ecology , biology , evolutionary biology , microeconomics , embedded system
The treatment of organic waste, by‐products and other residual materials from bio‐based industries is currently changing from disposing to recycling and reusing activities, which may create significant added values. However, these valorisation pathways as well as their institutional and geographical contexts are not yet sufficiently understood. From an actor‐centric perspective, we seek to shed light on extant practices of agri‐food waste valorisation using the examples of potato and rapeseed production in Lower Saxony, Germany. Drawing on conceptual thoughts on circular bioeconomies and the nexus approach, we will show that these practices not only depend on the availability of (technological) solutions but are affected by changing economic and political environments in combination with place‐specific conditions and local networks. We further describe the cross‐sectoral relations, synergies and externalities that come along with by‐product valorisation in multi‐use systems, while also revealing the fragile stability of circular bioeconomies that are linked to the food–feed–energy nexus.