The importance of developing a circular economy and sustainability is always being pursued by European countries and therefore finding innovations that utilize the waste materials are considered critical. One such area of exploration is the utilization of shell waste. In the BioLaMer project, food-eating Black Soldier Fly larvae shells were utilized for the extraction of chitin.
Our project member Dr Sivakumar Krishnan had the privilege to attend the Blue Economy workshop titled “Fostering collaboration between research and industry for shell waste utilization towards the realization of a circular economy” event held on February 29th 2024 at the Growth Hub, SETU Waterford Campus, Co. Waterford, Ireland. This amazing event served as a platform for knowledge sharing and networking.
The event was inaugurated by Dr Geraldine Canny, Head of Research, Innovation & Graduate Studies, who delivered the welcome address. Following that, Ms Brakemi Egbedi, PhD researcher, EIRC/PMBRC, gave an excellent talk on the topic “PhD research on Shell waste? Waste or untapped resource?”. Her talk focused on the technological innovation of transforming shell waste into valuable products which clearly has shown great potential to reduce waste and environmental impact.
In the subsequent sessions, industry experts and sustainability researchers shared views on the current trends in shell waste utilization, followed by collaborative solution ideation discussions and on the challenges faced by researchers and industry stakeholders in addressing them.
