Dear Colleagues,

There has been a great deal of interest on valorising various industrial by-products into high value biomaterials. Mountains and mountains of by-products are generated from various processing industries. About 6.5 million tons of municipal waste is generated per year, and out of this about 90% of waste is organic. In addition to this, agricultural sector by-products also represent a crucial environmental problem in Ethiopia. Environmental concerns, rapid oil consumption, depletion of non-renewable resources and limited fossil fuel reserves are driving research into sustainable, renewable and green materials. Recycling the by-products of various industries creates opportunities for the community and eases pressure on the environment. Different stakeholders across the world promote a sustainable method of material production by using circular economy and biorefinery concepts. Developing a circular economy/biorefinery for these huge amounts of unutilized by-products is, therefore, a hot research area that provides an opportunity to make use of the unique combination of properties of these abundant organic by-products. This Special Issue plans to identify potential beneficiation routes of various industry by-products in Ethiopia in line with their ascertained properties.

Potential topics for this Special Issue will focus on organic waste valorization and includes, but are not limited to, the following:

• Organic waste separation;
• Characterization of the by-products;
• Pre-treatment of various biomass;
• Valorization of organic waste into valuable biochemicals;
• Biomass to biopolymers;
• Biomass to biomaterials;
• Waste to energy;
• Waste to agriculture;
• Waste-based bioethanol generation;
• Life cycle analysis of biorefining approaches;
• Trash to treasure;
• Circular, Green and Bio-Economy.

Prof. Dr. Tamrat Tesfaye
Prof. Dr. Mulugeta Admasu
Prof. Dr. Venkata Ramayya Ancha
Prof. Dr. Giovanni De Feo
Guest Editors

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• biomass
• biopolymers
• biomaterials
• sustainability in production
• life cycle analysis
• organic waste
• organic waste valorisation
• circular economy
• trash to treasure
• circular, green and bio-economy
• cleaner production
• environmental sustainability