Snail Shell Waste Threat to Sustainability and Circular Economy: Novel Application in Food Industries

Angela Giorgia Potortì, Laura Messina (), Patrizia Licata, Enrico Gugliandolo, Antonello Santini () and Giuseppa Di Bella
Additional contact information
Angela Giorgia Potortì: Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and of Morphological and Functional Imagines (BIOMORF), University of Messina, 98122 Messina, Italy
Laura Messina: Department of Veterinary Science, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, Italy
Patrizia Licata: Department of Veterinary Science, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, Italy
Enrico Gugliandolo: Department of Veterinary Science, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, Italy
Antonello Santini: Department of Pharmacy, University of Napoli Federico II, 80131 Napoli, Italy
Giuseppa Di Bella: Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and of Morphological and Functional Imagines (BIOMORF), University of Messina, 98122 Messina, Italy

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: Effective waste management has become an urgent societal challenge. Food waste is made up of items meant for human consumption that are lost, polluted, disposed of, or deteriorated; the reutilization of shells from mollusk waste is a severe problem in terms of environmental protection and the development of the circular economy. The properties of waste shells are presented and discussed, including their biological–natural origin and high calcium carbonate content. This could add social and innovation focus on shell waste management, getting a non-toxic, eco-sustainable, low-cost, biodegradable supplement to invest in. Furthermore, it has the potential to support the circular economy approach by creating a closed system that minimizes the use of natural resources and environmental contamination. This review explores edible mollusk shell waste sources and functional properties of inorganic components of snail shell waste like minerals and active substances like chitin, chitosan, and calcium carbonate and attempts to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the scientific literature published over the last 20 years, elucidating prominent patterns in the utilization of shell waste in food application industry, as additives and supplements development to promote both human and animal health.

Keywords: shell waste; food; ecology; circular economy; waste valorization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/706/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/706/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:2:p:706-:d:1318557

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().