## 1 Introduction
\"Autonomies\" prepare their respective plans for waste prevention and the local entities are then enabled to carry out the waste management programmes, either separately or jointly [5; 12]. Royal Decree 160/2021, of December 30, which approved the updated Integral Waste Plan of the Canary Islands 2021-2027 (Plan Integral de Residuos de Canarias, hereinafter, PIRCAN) [5], unifies both waste management and prevention. It was conceived as a planning document to prevent the production of waste and, where appropriate, resolve the problems arising from its management, in accordance with the relevant laws in force at the time of its formulation [5]. With this background, there are territorial management strategies like the \"Special Territorial Waste Management Plan for the Island of Tenerife\" (\"Plan Territorial Especial de Ordenacion de Residuos de la isla de Tenerife\" or PTEOR, approved in July 2011) [14] with concrete measures regarding financing, waste management, the determination of appropriate sites for treatment and storage facilities, social awareness, and municipal and citizen participation [15]. It is important to note that the PTEOR should be updated according to the last PIRCAN revision and the revisions of state laws [16]. The PTEOR from 2011 included general information about the composition of the collected municipal waste (CER 200301) from 2001, with 497,949 tons per year and an organic fraction of 30.9%, which is equivalent to 157,650 tons per year [15]. The municipal solid waste has three categories: residues similar to household waste; residues from industrial, institutional and commercial activities (RICIA), which also includes selectively collected residues from kitchens, restaurants, and food markets; and residues from construction and demolition [15]. In 2022, the average national recycling rate of municipal solid waste was 22.4%, which was still far from the European recycling average rate of 58% [17; 18]. In 2022, 513 kg of municipal waste per capita was generated in the EU and 48% of this was recycled (material recycling and composting) [17]. Figure 2a,b show the recycling rate for solid municipal waste at a national and autonomic level in two of the most important tourist regions in the country: the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. In terms of the non-separated municipal waste, which is mainly from households, both regions exceed the national rate. Figure 2b shows how the recycling rate of these residues increased over time but recycling capacity remained the same, with 27.72% of municipal solid waste recycled in the Canary Islands in 2022. This recycling rate increased, particularly since 2017, to over 16% and was 5.3% higher than the national average, demonstrating the regional political will to implement recycling concepts and technologies. Figure 2: **(a)** Municipal solid waste per capita in Spain and both archipelagos; **(b)** recycling rates of municipal solid waste in Spain and in the Balearic and Canary Islands [18; 19]. Canary Islands, Tenerife and Its Biodegradable Solid Municipal Waste, Including Kitchen, Restaurant and Food Waste Potential  
Food waste can be transformed into more valuable products through thermal, chemical, or biochemical conversion. However, it is common practice put it in a landfill and generate conventional energy [20]. In comparison to landfill techniques with electricity production and incineration with steam recovery and cogeneration, anaerobic digestion with cogeneration has been identified to be the most effective waste management practice [21]. In 2021, 131 kg of food waste was produced per inhabitant in the EU. This food waste originated in households (53.5%), the manufacturing of food products and beverages (21.4%), restaurants and food services (9.2%), primary production (8.4%), and retail and other food distribution (6.9%), representing approximately 25% of the municipal solid waste in 2022 [22; 23].