Sustainable management of rice by-products: Environmental challenges, industrial applications, and circular bio-economy innovations

The agricultural sector plays an essential role in both human and economic growth, offering sustenance, employment, income, raw materials, technological progress, and sustainability. The growing awareness of the necessity to enhance agricultural production is gaining attention, primarily driven by the imperative to adequately nourish the continuously expanding global population. Diverse agricultural practices are causing harmful environmental consequences, posing a significant risk to ecological stability through issues such as soil degradation, water pollution, habitat loss, and biodiversity decline. Timely and effective agricultural waste management has become essential for preventing adverse environmental and health impacts. Biomass from rice crop harvesting and processing has been found in abundance around the world. Because of the abundance of this biomass in nature, researchers are harnessing it for various objectives, including global energy requirements, while supporting environmental sustainability. Due to this rationale, within the frameworks of emerging sustainable and circular models, the prioritization of agricultural waste valorization has gained prominence as a pivotal strategy aimed at advancing sustainable management and circular economy. This review mainly emphasizes on the rice bio-waste, its environmental and health-related issues, policies to control stubble burning, reduce pollution in the air, and sustainable management of the bio-waste into wealth using different approaches worldwide. We also investigated the potential contribution of rice-by-products wastes to bioenergy production (bioethanol, biogas, and biofuel), enzymes, nanoparticles, construction materials, animal husbandry, bioplastics, and other value-added products. We recommend that proper management of rice by-products may produce innovative bio-ingredients and biodegradable materials, and enhance green growth and a circular bioeconomy.