# Banana Peels: A Genuine Waste or a Wonderful Opportunity?
## 3 Banana Composition and Waste  
Banana fruit is important economically and nutritionally for food security and it is a staple food for 400 million people around the world [34]. Banana ranks second highest in the fruit category after citrus and fourth most important crop after rice, wheat and corn [3; 4]. The consumption of banana has increased with the changes in dietary patterns, especially for increasing fibre intake, which is an essential nutrient. Uganda was the country with the highest per capita banana consumption in 2023. The average intake per person was \(\sim\)300 kg per year in Uganda, followed by Papua New Guinea, with \(\sim\)120 kg per person consumption every year. Other higher consumers of the banana per capita are Samoa, Rwanda, Laos, Burundi, Dominica and Peru [7]. The vast popularity of the banana is due to their high nutritional value and soft texture. Banana is enriched with fibre, sugars, vitamin B\({}_{6}\), vitamin C, manganese, amino acids, and phenolics such as gallic acid, catechin, epicatechin, tannins and anthocyanins [35]. It is a low-fat food with a high energy content [35].  
The waste produced from banana includes deformed, small size and rotten fruit, peel, leaves, pseudo stem parts such as flowers and underground stem (rhizome). Banana peel constitutes \(\sim\)40% of the fruit and pseudo stem parts make up 60% of the total plant biomass. Harvesting of each tonne of banana fruit generates about 3 tonnes of pseudo stem, 150 kg of rachis, 480 kg of leaves and 100 kg of rejected fruit waste [36]. Some on-farm ways to reuse the waste include putting waste fruit in feedstock with rice bran, molasses, legumes and grasses. The stalk can be chopped or fed directly to the animals [37]. Banana peel is also used as animal food and added to the feedstock of monkeys, poultry, goats, livestock, poultry, etc. [27]. Pseudo stem, leaves and fruit stalks are also used as mulch or composted for manure [37]. However, the conventional ways of banana waste management are now discouraged because of increased environmental concerns and the spread of plant diseases. One of the main reasons for banana wilt spread is the application of manure or mulch from infected banana plants into the banana field [38]. Over the last decade, increased consumer demand for banana has also increased waste production to \(\sim\)114 million tonnes every year. Only about 40% of the total banana crop is used and the rest is treated as waste biomass [2]. The percentage of losses and waste in the supply chain can reach up to 35% [39]. The banana supply chain is affected by several challenges at each stage that ultimately contribute to waste and loss. Different challenges in each stage are outlined in Figure 2 [40].  
Apart from losses at plantation and harvest stages, the banana is prone to many postharvest losses because of its climacteric nature. The metabolic processes, such as respiration and transpiration, continue after harvesting, making it more perishable [41]. Therefore, temperature plays a key role during the storage of banana which is suggested to be kept at 13 \({}^{\circ}\)C at both green and ripen stages. Banana is prone to chilling injury at lower temperatures (below 10 \({}^{\circ}\)C) and rapid ripening above 14 \({}^{\circ}\)C [41; 42]. It is physiologically sensitive and gets easily damaged due to mishandling during harvesting and postharvest stages. Moreover, mechanical damage can cause bruises and injuries on the peel, which appear as brownish-black spots on the skin [43]. The fruit might be unacceptable for the market due to the discolouration of the skin. The mechanical damage to the fruit can further cause changes in chemical composition, sugar content, weight loss, colour change, softening and brownning of fruit, weight loss, and ultimately, economic loss.  
Figure 2: Challenges at each stage of banana production lead to waste production [44].