The annual production of biowaste exceeds 100 Mt in the European Union (EU) and approaches 200 Mt in the United States (USA) . Up to >40% ends up in landfills and accounts for the second largest anthropogenic source of CH4 emission, i.e. 20% in EU and 8% on the global scale . Therefore, a benign transformation of biowaste to industrially useful commodity chemicals would be an efficient method for reducing carbon emissions and fossil fuel dependence , and thus not only lowering the output of CH4 but also of CO2. Indeed, biomass is the only perennial resource that might provide a negative carbon footprint, i.e. decreasing the net atmospheric CO2 levels . However, huge challenges for viable biowaste to commodity chemicals processes include the highly heterogeneous, complex, and relatively inert composition of biomass. Compelling reasons therefore exist for developing new and effective strategies that allow for benign and selective biomass valorization directly to end-user utilization or platform chemicals. One of the most promising sustainable platform chemicals is gamma-valerolactone (GVL) . It derives from biogenic carbohydrates via multistep processes and has numerous applications, such as fuel additive/biofuel, bulk chemicals, green solvent, and in the syntheses of polymers or pharmaceuticals. Three highly abundant biogenic carbohydrate are lignocellulose, starch, and chitin. Lignocellulosic residues, mainly originating from wood-and agricultural waste, exceed 180 Gtpa worldwide . Starch polysaccharides account for approximately 3 Gtpa through the process of photosynthesis, among which one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally . Finally, chitin, originating from animal fibers, accounts for 1 Gtpa 11 .