From food waste to sustainable fashion: the reaction of the consumer to a new circular economy perspective

The paper aims to analyze the circular economy and, in particular, the possibilities to reuse food Organization, approximately one-third of all the food produced in the world becomes waste. The reduction of waste in the agri-food industry is one important goal. Finding innovative ways to use food waste for productive use, improves, on one side, sustainable development and, on the other side, creates new business models. The generation of waste can take place in every phase of the value chain, such as production, processing, distribution, food services, and finally domestic the second-largest polluter in the world, just after the oil industry. To mitigate this problem the fashion industry is developing new solutions to change the image of a polluting industry to a regenerative industry. A circular business model can give a new life and a new value to what was previously considered a mere waste and cost, contributing to the reduction of waste generation. To understand the reaction of the consumer, a survey with fifteen questions was conducted and we had 266 participants. The questions are divided into three categories. The first category of questions is age-related (such as age, nationality, work, etc.)- The second category is based on purchasing behavior and on consumer habits. The last part of the survey is more focused on the re -use of food waste in the fashion sector. We analyzed the consumer awareness of the existence of the problems of the reduction of waste and we understood that there is still a long way to go to raise awareness and inform the final consumer. The over 55s are more focused on environmental problems at the time of a purchase than Generation Z, however, generation Z is declared to be the age group most informed about the existence of fabrics that reuse food waste. These data go against the trend.