From Waste to Wealth: A Review on the Sustainable Management of Waste to Produce Valuable Products

Background: Wastes are the unwanted or unusable materials produced after the primary use. The global community is currently at a critical environmental and economic juncture due to the generation of heavy amounts of wastes, which affect human health and pollute the environment. In the present scenario sustainable waste management became a global challenge to minimize the adverse effects of waste. Objective: This review paper aims to bridge the knowledge gap by evaluating the socio technical drivers and experimental outcomes of the waste to wealth paradigm and highlighting the sustainable waste management approaches for circular economy. Methodology: 90 papers published on different journals were accessed from the online databases like Google scholar, ResearchGate, Wiley online library, JSTOR, Scopus database, Springer Nature database focusing mainly on the utilization of temple waste, kitchen waste, animal excretory waste (cow dung) and agricultural waste. Results: After careful review of these research articles it was observed that most of the articles emphasize on kitchen waste followed by agricultural waste and temple waste respectively. The temple wastes are mainly used for the production of vermicompost, biogas and essential oil as well as useful in construction sectors. The waste generated from kitchen has been used in the production of biofuel (ethanol, butanol, and biodiesel), bioelectricity and pigments like carotenoids. Cow dung wastes are used in production of biomolecules like cellulose and also capable for bioremediation. Likewise agricultural wastes play a vital role as these are used as bio fertilizer, soil amendments, absorbents of acidic dyes, methylene blue and heavy metals. Conclusion: This review article elaborates the production of valuable resources and products from the waste as the raw material. Converting wastes into high value commodities is an eco friendly approach to offer a sustainable solution.