Australian company, Food Recycle, has developed technology to turn commercial food waste into animal feed, leading to less waste in landfill, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and contributing to a circular economy.
According to multiple sources, including the Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water, 30% of all human food is wasted globally.
“Food Recycle’s patented production process delivers on sustainability, circular economy, and food security outcomes,” said Food Recycle CEO Norm Boyle.
“There are other processes out there, but they typically only deliver partial benefits because they use food waste to create a secondary process. Food Recycle takes the next step and uses food to produce food.”
Patented process
Food Recycle has developed a patented process to efficiently process food waste from a variety of sources such as restaurants, abattoirs, farms, and processors. Each food waste stream is processed individually, analysed, and stored separately as ingredients.
“We then measure the nutritional and amino acid profile of each ingredient and then mix them together to make complete feeds,” said Mr Boyle.
Two tonnes of food waste can be converted into one tonne of complete feed suitable for poultry, pigs, and aquaculture. Apart from preventing the generation of methane, Food Recycle’s processing of food waste also eliminates every known biosecurity risk at no additional cost.
Successful trials
A series of rigorous trials conducted by CSIRO, Western Sydney University (WSU) and University of New England (UNE) have demonstrated the viability of Food Recycle’s process.
“The trials show that the technology works. Food waste is taken out of landfill, put back into the food chain, with Food Recycle’s animal feed producing larger, healthier hens and eggs, and fish, for example,” said Mr Boyle.
“We wanted to get the science exactly right before scaling up, and we’ve got the data to showcase the technology’s success using an evidence-based approach.”
A Jade Perch and aquaponics trial with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has further validated Food Recycle’s technologies to turn commercial food waste into animal feed.
In the trial, Jade Perch were fed a food waste diet, then fish waste is recycled, and the nutrients are used for growing leafy greens.
“We wanted to determine if using more sustainable and local ingredients would be beneficial for the growth of the fish and plants,” said Dr Ha Truong, CSIRO’s Agriculture and Food Business Researcher, who led the trial
“The results of the trial confirmed the technical viability, and showed that upcycling waste produced high quality foods for the future,” she said.
If the 30kg of wasted food goes through a Food Recycle facility, explained Mr Boyle, it can produce 15kg of aquaculture feed. When given to Jade Perch, this creates 10kg of fish and through aquaponics and it also creates 80kg of leafy green.
“Instead of 30kg of food waste going to landfill, 10kg of fish and 80kg of leafy greens goes back to supermarket shelves – that’s what Food Recycle is all about,” Mr Boyle said.
Crowd funding
Following successful trials, Food Recycle is seeking a $3m capital raise via crowd-funding platform, Swarmer, to commercialise the technology and scale-up in Australia and New Zealand.
“The funds raised will be put towards facility mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and systems design, to allow for the first commercial-scale production facility to be built under the Food Recycle patented technology and knowhow agreement,” said Mr Boyle.
The Swarmer crowd-funding campaign allows individual investments starting from $100, with investors given shares in the company.
“The Swarmer campaign is a unique opportunity for the public to be a part of this sustainability journey and invest in shares in Food Recycle, starting from $250,” said Mr Boyle.