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Cereal processing and flour production play a key role in the Italian agrifood scenario generating valuable economic incomes and contributing significantly to the export market. The European Union's commitment to the transition towards the Circular Economic model has led to increasing attention to food by-products and waste valorisation practices in order to reduce the amount of food loss and waste and costs for disposal. Processing outputs produce secondary raw materials which often remain unexplored for alternative applications and other supply chains. This article focuses on the use organic residues obtained by cereal processing conducted by a small-size milling industry to produce bio-based materials. The research is structured in two stages: (1) the first investigates the production of organic waste through material flow analysis and characterisation of wheat dust, which is considered as waste, through nutritional and toxicological analyses; (2) the second explores the opportunity of using wheat dust as reinforcing filler for a starch-based bio-composite and as culture medium for a microbial cellulose. This second stage adopts the do-it-yourself (DIY) approach for upcycling of food waste and manipulation of bio-based materials. The wheat dust/starch bio-composite was processed to obtain surrogates of disposable plates, while the microbial cellulose was manipulated to achieve a film for food packaging. Strengths and criticalities of both applications are discussed, considering limitations implied by the DIY approach, and further implementations are defined. This article focuses on a case study located in Cuneo province (Piedmont Region, Italy), but it also considers the opportunity to upscale the study to larger milling industries due to the relevance of wheat grains processing in the Italian agrifood market.

This practical paper presents a required reflection on paradigm shift toward an aware water management in urban context for the provision of renewable energy and for the enhancement of pre-industrial heritage. It investigates the transition toward systemic and ecological approach to face the complexity of urban environment and infrastructures for energy supply. The study investigates the sustainable energy framework in Piedmont Region and in the Municipality of Turin. Especially, it analyses opportunities provided by urban rivers and streams for installing mini-hydro power plants using historical unused infrastructures. The real case study presents the conversion of an historical check dam of Regio Parco canal in a mini-hydro power plant in the city of Turin (Piedmont Region, Italy), and it investigates the “land use-water-energy nexus” from an ecological perspective. The paper considers the 12 principles of infrastructure ecology in the urban water management to provide innovative solutions for blue-urban infrastructures that increase sustainability in cities. According to the urban ecological infrastructure, the project of mini-hydro power plant presents multi-functional features and this method can be replied in other similar contexts. Concerning technical solutions adopted for the mini-hydro power plant, it examines the potential of the green/blue infrastructure approach to integrate the flood risk management and the production of renewable energy. It analyses opportunities provided by low impact development to preserve freshwater ecosystems and to maintain biodiversity using inflatable dam, Kaplan turbine and fish ladder. The “Regio Parco” mini-hydro power plant is designed to provide energy for almost 600 households improving the environmental value and the usability of the area. The paper discusses the adoption of an ecological approach to design multiple functions blue infrastructure that can be implemented on other networks improving the urban landscape.