Multidimensional sustainability assessment of circular management of orange peel waste

In alignment with the European Green Deal (European Commission, 2019), the National Research Centre for Agricultural Technologies (AGRITECH, agritechcenter.it), proposes a comprehensive, large-scale, multidisciplinary research initiative as part of the Next Generation EU recovery plan. AGRITECH’s goal is to tackle the diverse challenges of sustainable agriculture in Italy using an integrated approach to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the Italian agri-food sector. This research is part of Spoke 8, focused on “New Models of Circular Economy in Agriculture through Waste Valorization and Recycling.” In this area, partners are exploring the transformation of organic waste into high-value products, advancing sustainable agro-energy production through waste valorization, and developing biofertilizers. This contribution presents two steps of a multi-dimensional sustainability assessment framework, including the following methods: (i) Holistic Diagnosis (HD) and (ii) Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and Circular Economy (CE) Assessment. The focus is on evaluating a technology currently developed by a company to produce an orange-based biocomposite with a biopolymer matrix.