# Banana Peels: A Genuine Waste or a Wonderful Opportunity?
## 1 Introduction  
Fruit and vegetables are essential parts of the human diet. The recommended daily intake of vegetables is five servings, and for fruit, it is two servings. The Banana (genus _Musa_) is one of the most important fruits and belongs to the Musaceae family. The genus _Musa_ has over 50 species, and its varieties are differentiated based on the way of consumption (cooking, dessert or fresh) [1]. After citrus, banana is the highest-produced fruit globally [2] and ranked fourth in agricultural commodity production after rice, wheat and milk [3]. It is usually grown in 150 countries of tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world [5]. India is the highest banana-producing country, with ~34.5 million tonnes of bananas in 2022, which is one-third of the total global production [6,7]. The production in India was almost three times that in China (~11.8 million tonnes), which is the second largest producer of banana, followed by Indonesia (~9.2 million tonnes) (Figure 1) [7]. Overall, Asia contributes 51% towards banana production, followed by the Americas (24%). Oceania only covers 1.2% of the total banana production in the world. According to the Australian Banana Growers Council, Australia produced 362,000 tonnes of bananas in 2020/2021. The most common varieties grown in India, the Philippines and Ecuador belong to the sub-groups Cavendish or Gros Michel [8,9]. In tropical and subtropical regions, banana cultivation is a source of nutrition and a major contributor to the national and local economy in the producing countries. Globally, 15% of the bananas are exported to non-producing countries to provide nutritional diversity in those areas [10; 11]. For instance, in Ecuador and Costa Rica, banana and banana products are the second largest agricultural commodities [10]. Banana is evaluated on different external and internal factors for export. The outer appearance is based on the peel colour, fruit shape and size, as well as the defects on the peel. The fruit quality parameters are taste, sweetness, texture, aroma, shelf-life and nutritional values of the fruit [12]. Therefore, banana export is difficult and is limited. Moreover, removal of debris or dust from the fruit, blowing of adjacent leaves and rubbing of petioles also lead to high surface scarring and physical damage to the fruit [12]. This ultimately leads to a reduced export of banana. The utilisation of banana peel waste is becoming popular to progress toward sustainable development goals. Recently, banana fibre has been used by the textile industry to promote natural fibre used in fabric production [13]. Moreover, banana fibre is also used in the paper, cardboard and packaging industries, along with novel banana leather. Banana fibre has been used to make paper, which is then used to make wallets and paintings [14]. Some applications of banana peel waste include use in agriculture, food and pharmaceutical industries, such as biodegradable pots, biofertilisers, food preservatives, functional foods, antioxidants and anti-microbial drug ingredients [15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 4]. Innovative extraction techniques such as microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, and pulse-electric-field extraction using deep eutectic and compressed solvents are now suggested for the isolation of bioactive compounds from peels. These novel techniques provide time- and energy-efficient extraction and a higher yield of bioactive ingredients [22]. For example, pulse-electric-field extraction had a higher phenolic compound concentration extracted from Kepok banana peel than the solvent extraction method [23]. However, more research is needed to test novel technologies to evaluate the yield efficiency of bioactive compounds from banana peel and their impact on the environment. Further studies are required to understand the full potential of banana peel and increase the efficacy of utilising this waste for practical application in the circular economy.