Adding value to side-streams in the food and beverage industry: Lessons for the circular bioeconomy

We present main challenges and opportunities for the valorisation of side-streams in the food and beverage industry, based on comparative case studies in Norway and in Denmark: on whey in the dairy industry, on animal by-products in the meat industry and on spent grain in the brewing industry. The case studies have shown that changes in regulations and political framework conditions can facilitate sustainable transition pathways by giving the right direction through a portfolio of policy instruments which need to be coordinated, both at international, national and regional level.

The regional context is an important background for the possible valorisation options: geographical and logistic conditions vary quite a lot between Norway and Denmark and therefore policy cannot just be copied but must align with those conditions.