MONEY FROM WASTE

Stone Age humans were typical creatures that took stock of their surroundings and sub-consciously/consciously, determined what available resources they had. Very little was wasted in palaeolithic communities – as resources were scarce. Meat from hunting was a pulse of fortune for those primitive humans. Nutrient dense food (like meat), if carefully prepared (smoking, preservation), could provide food for the family for many months.

It is impossible to believe that these early humans took the best cuts of meat and threw the rest away. It is also hard to believe that beside the meat, the early hominids would have found no use for the skin, the bones, or even the innards. Archaeological evidence shows that hunter gatherers were resource efficient, using nearly all of the animal.

Epigenetics is the study of the changes in the cell nucleus (and the DNA) that is extra to the normal functioning of the cell DNA (and its genes). Epigenetics is interested in the way in which physiological and psychological changes in the environment might be inherited and more specifically how it influences turning genes (on or off). In other words, scientists know mechanisms and pathways that show how the environment will influence an individual’s genes.

Thrifty feeling
Why does it feel wrong to randomly cut out a piece of a big chocolate cake and then throw the rest in the bin? It is because a part of the human brain called the reticular activating system (RAS), that spans the medulla oblongata to the mid brain, recognises an ancient pattern and is telling the prefrontal cortex that bad times are coming and one should not be wasting. Obviously, this is an emotional response that defies logic (especially if food seems plenty) – but all humans should thank the RAS feeling as the logical fore brain can take the information from the RAS and suppress the neural advice or act on it. The feeling that “waste is bad” is a conjugation of the “feeling” and the rational brain confirming it.

A modern society, where it appears that there are plenty of resources, may not cause such a RAS response as it used to, but the ability for the forebrain to “justify” wasting seems to be directly related to the increase in wealth and “entitled” mentality. The re-education of businessmen/women that ignore the RAS is one thing, but the forebrain can be trained to see opportunities – that “luck” can be generated when looking at wasted opportunities or wasted resources. Many businesses have started because an entrepreneurial individual sees an advantage that can be exploited for gain.

Circular bioeconomy
The European Union’s (EU’s) updated Circular Bioeconomy (CBE) Strategy (most recently reinforced in 2025/2026) aims to accelerate the transition from a fossil-based economy to a sustainable, renewable, and circular system. By utilising renewable biological resources, such as plants, algae, forests, and organic waste, the strategy seeks to create a "green motor" for the European economy, supporting the European Green Deal by replacing fossil alternatives, creating green jobs, and reducing pollution.

CBE objectives
The strategy is designed around three key pillars aimed at achieving a sustainable, regenerative, and competitive economy. The EU is investing heavily in biotechnology, biorefineries, and biomanufacturing to commercialize innovative bio-based products (e.g., bioplastics, biochemicals, textiles). The strategy encourages rapid local deployment, particularly in rural and coastal areas, by fostering "bio-based communities" and enhancing the value of local biomass, thus empowering farmers and foresters. It emphasizes ensuring that biomass production stays within planetary limits, protecting biodiversity, reducing dependency on imports, and managing natural resources sustainably.

A defining characteristic of this strategy is the shift from a linear "take-make-dispose" model to a circular one. It prioritizes the "cascading use" of biomass, ensuring that waste from one process (e.g., agricultural residue) becomes a raw material for another. This includes promoting the recycling of biomaterials, upgrading waste streams, and ensuring that by-products are fully valued before finally being used for bioenergy.

The updated strategy focuses on strengthening EU competitiveness by setting up a Bio-based Europe Alliance to facilitate a €10 billion investment in bio-based solutions by 2030. Scaling up advanced fermentation and carbon farming to boost industrial biotechnology. Tackling unfair competition from underpriced, non-sustainable fossil alternatives. As of 2026, the bioeconomy is a crucial sector that generates high value, estimated at €2.7 trillion in 2023, and employs over 17 million people. By fostering a circular bioeconomy, the EU intends to maintain this growth while securing food, improving sustainability, and strengthening the EU’s industrial autonomy.

Africa’s advantage
With Africa having the luxury of seeing the EU trail blaze, African economies can always take the “good” of the EU and leave the “bad”. Doing business in the EU is costly, apparent from the significant costs given above. African companies should be watching what the CBE Joint Undertaking (CBE-JU) is and specifically watching the updates of what kinds of projects they are doing. The Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) is the private arm of the EU CBE-JU. The CBE-JU has a mandate to increase the value of the EU’s bioeconomic market. The JU marries private industry with government funding to invest in the industrial development of biogenic markets and to fund innovation into biorefining.

Tailoring the projects and taking the African approach (context and pragmatic implementation) to deliver a lower cost (faster) version is in Africa’s purview. Africa can do it for a fraction of the cost. What types of things will they be doing and why could Africa be better placed to deliver before the EU?

It comes down to the principle of seeing any agricultural or industrial system, identifying the biomaterials moving through those systems and applying a technique called biorefining. Biorefining as compared to petrochemical refining, differs in that the refining is done to non-fossil materials. Biomaterials are converted into useful, higher value commodities that can be sold on to other industries looking for feedstocks that are more suited to the circular bioeconomy and not a linear economy.

In the mass balance of the leather and shoe industry, there is a lot of exploitable waste that lends itself to biorefining. Entrepreneurs will see dollar signs as their RAS lights up and their forebrain says: “Show me the money!”

In the next issue: Elementary leather units occur inside the leather matrix. These are fundamental to the mechanical behaviour of leather. In 2025, a Chinese team set out to describe this (Long et al., 2025). The idea is not new, in Attenburrow (1993) the co-operating unit was clarified, explaining the network behaviour of leather. In the next article, the work from the Chinese will be discussed as to how it adds to the excellent work of Maeser (1960) and Popplewell and Ward (1963). Long et al. (2025) appear to have isolated the fibre bundle as the co-operating unit – a review of this idea will be made.