Resource Recovery from Food Waste

The global issue of food waste (FW) is becoming increasingly severe, resulting in significant environmental, economic, and social costs. FW valorization represents a promising strategy to recover valuable resources while reducing environmental impacts. Although traditional technologies have been widely applied, they face multiple challenges, such as low resource efficiency, environmental pollution, unstable products, and health risks, with economic feasibility and policy compatibility requiring further breakthroughs. Integrated multitechnology systems and biorefinery approaches for multiproduct coproduction demonstrate greater potential, enabling multilevel resource utilization and energy recovery. Current research, however, still suffers from critical gaps, such as the lack of data standardization, insufficient system integration, and fragmented evaluation frameworks. This review considers the current state of FW treatment technologies, proposes innovative directions such as multitechnology coupling systems, and develops an integrated assessment framework combining techno-economic assessment, life cycle assessment, and water–energy–food nexus analysis.