Green utilization of organic waste resource

Abstract

With the development of economic levels, the proportion of the organic waste generated each year is increasing rapidly. It was believed that the annual outputs of crop stalks, livestock and poultry manure, and food waste have been reached more than 800, 2600, and 62 million tonnes in China, respectively (Liu et al. 2012;Niu et al. 2022;Wang et al. 2022). The excessive generation of this organic waste has resulted in serious socioeconomic and environmental problems worldwide, such as resource waste, environmental contamination, global climate change, and ecosystem degradation (Afolalu et al. 2022;Misslin et al. 2022). Looking for green and alternative approaches is an important way towards organic waste management and utilization, which will power our future with low-or zero-carbon emissions and strong sustainability (Liu et al. 2012;Fang et al. 2022). The resource utilization and harmless treatment of organic waste is an effective way to control environmental pollution, improve environmental quality, develop a circular economy, and achieve sustainable development (Kharola et al. 2022;Peng et al. 2022).To cope with the sustainable waste treatment and management, we organized this "Green utilization of organic waste resource" special issue with Environmental Science and Pollution Research to deliberate on global developments in the field of organic waste sustainable treatment and management. After a stringent peer-review process, 13 original research papers with high scientific levels were accepted for publication by Environmental Science and Pollution Research, mainly concerning the green utilization of organic waste resources.