For each kilogram of food protein wasted, between 15 and 750 kg of CO₂ end up in the atmosphere. With this alarming carbon footprint, food protein waste not only contributes to climate change but also significantly impacts other environmental boundaries, such as nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, global freshwater use, change in land composition, chemical pollution, and biodiversity loss. This contrasts sharply with both the high nutritional value of proteins, as well as their unique chemical and physical versatility, which enable their use in new materials and innovative technologies. In this review, we discuss how food protein waste can be efficiently valorized not only by reintroduction into the food chain supply but also as a template for the development of sustainable technologies by allowing it to exit the food-value chain, thus alleviating some of the most urgent global challenges. We showcase three technologies of immediate significance and environmental impact: biodegradable plastics, water purification, and renewable energy. We discuss, by carefully reviewing the current state of the art, how proteins extracted from food waste can be valorized into key players to facilitate these technologies. We furthermore support analysis of the extant literature by original life cycle assessment (LCA) examples run ad hoc on both plant and animal waste proteins in the context of the technologies considered, and against realistic benchmarks, to quantitatively demonstrate their efficacy and potential. We finally conclude the review with an outlook on how such a comprehensive management of food protein waste is anticipated to transform its carbon footprint from positive to negative and, more generally, have a favorable impact on several other important planetary boundaries.

中文翻译：

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将食物蛋白质废物转化为可持续技术

每浪费一公斤食物蛋白质，就会产生 15 到 750 公斤的 CO ₂最终进入大气层。由于这种令人担忧的碳足迹，食物蛋白质浪费不仅会导致气候变化，还会对其他环境边界产生重大影响，例如氮磷循环、全球淡水使用、土地成分变化、化学污染和生物多样性丧失。这与蛋白质的高营养价值及其独特的化学和物理多功能性形成鲜明对比，这使得它们能够用于新材料和创新技术。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了如何通过将食物蛋白质废物重新引入食物链供应，以及如何将其作为可持续技术开发的模板，允许其退出食物价值链，从而有效地对其进行评估，从而减轻一些最紧迫的全球挑战。我们展示了三种具有直接意义和环境影响的技术：可生物降解塑料、水净化和可再生能源。我们通过仔细审查当前的技术水平，讨论如何将从食物垃圾中提取的蛋白质转化为关键参与者，以促进这些技术的发展。我们进一步支持通过原始生命周期评估 (LCA) 实例对现有文献进行分析，这些实例在所考虑的技术背景下对植物和动物废物蛋白质进行临时运行，并针对现实基准，以定量证明其功效和潜力。我们最终总结了审查，展望了这种对食物蛋白质废物的全面管理预计将如何将其碳足迹从积极转变为消极，更普遍地说，