Julia Otmakhova, Head of the NSU Food Safety Research Center, published the results of a comprehensive scientific study assessing the economic effect and environmental consequences of simulated options for the utilization of food waste in large-scale food production.
Published in the international journal «Waste and Biomass Valorization», the work was performed by Novosibirsk State University for the Thailand KMUTT Center with financial support from the Science Foundation of Thailand. This is the first joint interdisciplinary research study conducted at this level by Russian and Thai scientists in the Russian Federation.
Within the framework of the research, a scientifically based approach to waste recycling was developed by examining the processing of such tropical raw materials as cassava. The study also took into account the impact of price changes on materials and raw materials and the production capacity of the enterprises. Scenarios were proposed to provide economic stimulation for waste utilization by identifying promising ways to use all the products generated by processing this tropical crop.
According to Yulia Otmakhova, the modern economy demands taking into account not only the formal profit from processing certain production wastes, but also the possible positive and negative environmental consequences that accompany the processing of by-products from agricultural production and other industries. Simultaneous comprehensive analysis of the economic effect and environmental consequences of waste processing is an important methodological approach that helps us understand the real cost of deep processing and assess in advance the feasibility of introducing alternative options for various technological solutions for waste disposal in real production.
Without such a preliminary step, the state and business will be forced to deal with the environmental consequences of ill-considered implementation of production decisions that will incur additional economic losses that could be avoided by performing a preliminary analysis of the proposed solution.
Petr Menshanov, an expert from the All-Russian People’s Front expert working group «An Honest and Effective Economy», believes that similar production and economic solutions can be adapted for the needs of Russian agricultural organizations and food enterprises, pulp and paper mills and other domestic companies that generate significant amounts of waste. Stimulating business for the deep processing of raw materials and waste utilization is based on new economic approaches in which waste and by-products of production are considered both as a valuable resource and as a potential source of environmental hazard. The effectiveness of using these economic technologies for processing industrial waste has been confirmed by comprehensive scientific calculations. In the long term using these methods this will make it possible to maximize the efficiency of the Russian economy and reduce the environmental costs often faced by Russian businessmen and ordinary citizens.
NSU Rector Mikhail Fedoruk stressed that the NSU Research Center for Food Safety is working on other important interdisciplinary projects in the field of food market research. In particular, Julia Otmakhova and other staff at the Center are developing methodology for assessing new scientific and technical solutions associated with current trends in global food demand, determining the resource potential in our country and ensuring the expansion of Russia's export potential.
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