Citation: Rao, M. (2025) Traditional knowledge at the centre of a circular bioeconomy. Nature Food. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01205-z
Header image credit: UNDP

The circular bioeconomy is often presented as a frontier of cutting-edge innovation, where science, technology, and sustainability converge to create new possibilities. However, during my PhD research on food waste valorisation, I started to notice something less acknowledged.

A number of so-called ‘novel’ solutions draw inspiration from practices that have existed for generations within traditional knowledge systems. This is not surprising, as many Indigenous and agrarian communities have long regarded waste streams as valuable resources.

But, the way bio-based industries approach waste differs significantly from the traditional approach.

Mainstream bioeconomic strategies tend to prioritise standardisation, scale, and proprietary control. Such an approach often severs biological materials from the ecological contexts and stewardship necessary for their sustained use and regeneration.

In contrast, traditional approaches view biological resources—including waste—as part of living, relational networks shaped by place-based knowledge and ecological conditions. Grounded in values such as restraint and reciprocity, these practices have long supported circular flows of food, nutrients, and energy.

In this correspondence published in July 2025 in Nature Food, I explore how the circular bioeconomy can learn from traditional agri-food knowledge. And why equity must be central to that exchange.

If we’re drawing on traditional knowledge, we need to ensure that those who hold and sustain it are respected, involved, and fairly compensated. Without this, the bioeconomy risks replicating the same extractive logics it claims to move beyond.

You can read the article here.