Food waste recycling via fungal hydrolysis and lactic acid (LA) fermentation has been investigated. Hydrolysates derived from mixed food waste and bakery waste were rich in glucose (80.0-100.2 g L-1), fructose (7.6 g L-1) and free amino nitrogen (947-1081 mg L-1). In the fermentation with Lactobacillus casei Shirota, 94.0 g L-1 and 82.6 g L-1 of LA were produced with productivity of 2.61 g L-1 h(-1) and 2.50 g L-1 h(-1) for mixed food waste and bakery waste hydrolysate, respectively. The yield was 0.94 g g(-1) for both hydrolysates. Similar results were obtained using food waste powder hydrolysate, in which 90.1 g L-1 of LA was produced with a yield and productivity of 0.92 g g(-1) and 2.50 g L-1 h(-1). The results demonstrate the feasibility of an efficient bioconversion of food waste to LA and a decentralized approach of food waste recycling in urban area. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.