Waste2Func picks up US$7.4M grant to turn food waste into profit

03 Mar 2022 --- A project to turn food waste from industry excess into profit has netted a US$7.4 million budget boost. Waste2Func has been awarded the grant to create a platform for converting mixed refuse into bioplastics and biosurfactants. The project is set to increase value from waste “two to tenfold” for participating companies and farmers within Belgium and Europe at large.

After being converted, the resulting materials can then be used to create cosmetics as well as household and personal care products, among others.

The EU Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking-backed initiative will collect waste from supermarkets, restaurants, auctions and the food and agriculture industries, turning it into valuable raw materials, says Dr. Sofie Lodens, project coordinator for Waste2Func.

TripleW, an Israeli/Belgian company and Ghent University together with the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant have developed technology to convert mixed batches of food waste into functional ingredients.

In many cases, perfectly usable food is discarded because there are not enough pathways to extract revenue from it.“[The process can yield] lactic acid and microbial biosurfactants, that can be used for the production of bioplastics and personal and home care applications respectively.”

The goal of the project is to investigate the potential to establish a biorefinery where functional molecules can be made from the waste in a way that is both environmentally and financially sustainable.

At present, food waste has few profitable end-use pathways. Because of this, unused food, such as substandard fruits and vegetables, rot in fields or get incinerated rather than recovering the profit invested in growing them.

Creating waste recycling infrastructure 
Lodens says the project “will build a logistic platform to collect the agricultural and food waste and will demonstrate the conversion technology on a large scale.”

To develop the logistic platform, the project is developing a registration website and app that can be used to register food waste from the food and agriculture industries for collection.

So far, Waste2Func has 12 partners from five European countries, including agricultural associations, research institutes, small and medium enterprises and large enterprises such as Evonik, Croda and Ecover. The project is part of a larger push within the EU to recycle waste from the food and agriculture sectors to preserve the environment. 

The EU appears to be looking at recycling waste as a major step in achieving climate goals. Last December, the European Council released a communication on carbon capture and utilization, signaling plans to implement further legal frameworks for the recycling and monetization of industry waste.

Decreasing CO2 emission by 20%
Farmers who participate in the Waste2Func project will be “intensively” consulted on how to best collect food waste and what compensation for their waste should look like, therefore creating a new revenue model for farmers.

The initiative says it will decrease emissions normally generated from the manufacture of these raw materials by at least 20%, and is set to create jobs within the emerging waste-conversion industry within Belgium and Europe. 

Recently, FoodIngredientsFirst reported on incoming CO2 shortages set to impact the UK F&B industry and inflate food prices for consumers.

Edited by Olivia Nelson