Since the middle of the past century, when the synthetic fibers began their rise, wool has steadily lost importance in the textile
sector, and now is a marginal fiber on the textiles market. Great amounts of non-marketed raw wool have turned from an income
source for sheep farmers into a problematic waste, which is, at best, burn or landfill. With increasing interest for sustainable use of
natural resources, wool was reconsider as an underrated, underused renewable resource, worthy of a better exploitation. Lately,
intensive research has done on finding solutions for wool waste valorization in non-clothing applications. Two main directions to
add value to wool waste have developed: in applications that exploit the native fiber properties, and in applications that use the
keratin biopolymer, extracted from fibers by chemical solubilization or enzymatic bioconversion. Wool fibers in native state are
most used for technical applications like green building insulation, polymer-fiber composites or sorbent materials for water pollution
treatment. Keratin and its derivatives are main considered for the production of protein-based biomaterials for regenerative
medicine. Bioconversion has a significant potential for transforming wool waste into high-value products like fertilizers for organic
farming or proteolytic enzymes. The aim of this paper is to present the current management options for raw wool waste and to
review literature on actual and emerging solutions for converting raw wool waste into useful and profitable materials and products.