From coffee to edible batteries: how agrifood applies the circular economy

In the valorisation of surpluses, Italian food-processing companies are very active: 8 out of 10 use at least one circular economy practice, between reuse (for social and other purposes) and valorisation of residues and waste that is no longer edible. Specifically, 75% adopt forms of reuse, mainly donations for social purposes, but also sales on secondary markets, reprocessing or sale for animal feed. In Italy, large and medium-sized processing companies donate approximately 139 thousand tonnes of edible surplus per year, while they reuse another 182 thousand tonnes in other forms.

These are some of the results of research by the Osservatorio Food Sustainability of the School of Management of the Milan Polytechnic . Numerous are the virtuous examples of when waste becomes an ingredient.

The collaboration between two Tuscan companies, Bvs Birrificio Bvs del Valdarno and Biscotteria Vannino di Calenzano, gave birth to the idea of creating bakery products with the waste from craft beer production. The semi-finished product of the brewery, called "Trebbie", no longer has to be disposed of as organic residue, but is totally recovered and valorised: thus were born "Trebbie del Birraio", a fibre-rich and tasty artisan cracker, and "I Biscotti del Birraio", a classic chocolate sablè.

Remaining in the area of food processing, the platform dedicated to buying and selling industrial waste Cyrkl supported Prosit, a leading company in the beverage sector, in its search for a partner to help it valorise the orange peel waste from the production of juice. Prosit was thus able to sell the orange peels for EUR 10 per tonne and transform them into vegetable flour suitable for food use, with considerable financial savings, as the previous type of disposal had a very high cost. Orange peel flour, rich in fibre and natural antioxidants, can be used as an ingredient in various food products, such as biscuits, cakes, bread.

From food waste to beauty product is what was presented at Cosmoprof 2024, by Intercos (beauty and make-up products) and Amarey (Illy group company), namely an innovative coffee butter with multiple applications, with toning and emollient properties. The product originates from the 'silverskin', the silvery skin that covers coffee beans, a film that peels off during the roasting process and that until now was discarded.
The 'silverskin' retains a small part of fat that represents a great added value for the world of cosmetics. "Applying the circular economy model,' says David Brussa, Total Quality and Sustainability Director of illycaffè, 'we have studied how to convert elements that are currently discarded from the production process, such as green coffee powder, broken roasted beans and, indeed, the silverskin, into a new by-product. We want to valorise all possible types of waste, because we know that they are still very rich in molecules that can be reintroduced into other production circuits and reused'.