Every day, approximately 1,800 tons of bread are wasted in Italy—over 650,000 tons per year, with a massive environmental impact in terms of water, energy, agricultural land, and CO₂ emissions. The question is: what can we do with all this unsold bread?
The most common solutions are composting and biogas production, but there is a far more sustainable option: recovering and transforming it into new food products. This is the path we have chosen at Biova Project, and today we explain why this choice has a much greater positive impact than other waste management systems.
Why Recovery Is Better Than Recycling
When food like bread is sent to composting or anaerobic digestion (biogas), we are still wasting its nutritional value and the resources used to produce it. Here’s how these solutions compare:
Composting: the bread is turned into compost and used as fertilizer. However, it does not recover any of its nutrients for human consumption. The energy and water used to produce that bread are wasted.
Biogas: the bread is broken down to produce energy and methane. Only part of its value is recovered as energy. The process still generates CO₂ and methane emissions, both harmful greenhouse gases.
Recovery and transformation into new products (Upcycling) The bread retains its food value and avoids waste. The energy used to produce it is not lost. CO₂ emissions linked to the production of new ingredients are drastically reduced.
A FAO study highlights that recovering food for human consumption is 5 times more sustainable than composting and 10 times better than biogas production, considering the value of the resources saved.
The Positive Impact of Recovery on Resource Consumption and CO₂ Emissions
Every kilogram of bread requires:
1,600 liters of water for wheat production and processing
0.5 m² of farmland
1.2 kg of CO₂ emissions from production and distribution
If the bread is wasted, all these resources are lost.
Biova Project has already recovered over 16 tons of bread, preventing:
25 million liters of water from being wasted
8 tons of CO₂ from being emitted for new ingredient production
The equivalent of removing 1,739 cars from the road for a year
Our model: saving bread and transforming it into new products
At Biova Project, we have built a circular economy model, transforming surplus bread into beer, snacks, and innovative ingredients.
Here’s how it works:
We collect surplus bread from supermarkets, bakeries, and major producers like Barilla.
We turn it into beer, replacing up to 30% of barley malt, reducing the use of new raw materials.
We convert it into upcycled flour (BIO Flour), a circular ingredient for bakeries and the food industry.
We create snacks like Ri-Snack, made with 40% recovered bread.
We produce Ri-Drink, the first fermented soft drink made from Sorrento's lemon pith.
This transformation gives a second life to food waste, reducing surplus and cutting down on the consumption of new resources.
Every bottle of Biova saves around 150g of bread. A small action, a big impact.Conclusion: Recovering Bread Is the Most Sustainable Choice.
If we truly want to reduce food waste, we must prioritize recovery for human consumption instead of treating food as mere waste to be recycled.
Biova Project proves that an upcycling model works:
It turns waste into value
It reduces water and CO₂ consumption
It promotes a new way of thinking about food
Next time you drink a Biova beer, remember: it’s not just beer, it’s a piece of bread saved.
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