New Technology

Transforming food waste into animal feed

A food technology company is introducing a new, scientifically validated process across New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific Islands to convert food waste into rich feed for poultry, pigs, and aquaculture, enhancing profitability and reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the process.

The company has patented and patent-pending technology to convert any commercial food waste into high-performance animal feeds for industries including poultry, pigs, and aquaculture.

Food waste – a daunting prospect

As New Zealand and Australia return to business-as-usual and embrace the New Year, it’s worth casting a glance back. We leave behind not just 2022, but also waste – and plenty of it. A study by Australian Ethical found that the amount of waste Australians produce increases by 30% at Christmas.

The situation in New Zealand is very similar with the country’s Bioresource Processing Alliance reporting that 350,000 tonnes of food by-products are either going to landfill or have low value applications. New Zealand is a global leader in food production with a thriving food industry. However, a third of food produced in New Zealand is lost or wasted from farm to fork. A study by Otago University published in Sustainability Journal has found that uneaten food on consumers’ plates makes up 34% of food waste in the hospitality sector.

The numbers are indeed daunting. Australians throw out $20 billion worth of food each year. “Food waste rotting in landfill actually emits nearly six times the amount of greenhouse gases as the global aviation industry," says Dr Steve Lapidge, CEO at Fight Food Waste. The Adelaide-headquartered organisation is the lead agency in Australia’s fight to halve food waste by 2030 in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3.

Tackling the problem

A company operating throughout Australasia has developed novel technology to address this very issue. “In devising a successful environmental solution to food waste, we acknowledge it also has to make good business sense,” says Norm Boyle, CEO of Food Recycle. The company’s technology is capable of taking food waste from different sources and converting it into food for poultry, pigs, and aquaculture. The environmental impact is significant and tangible. For example, feed accounts for about 35% of the carbon footprint of 1 kg of chicken meat delivered to market and 76% of the carbon footprint of eggs.

Nathan Boyle, Chief Operations Officer of Food Recycle, left, and Norm Boyle, company CEO, co-founded Food Recycle to tackle the global problem of food waste

Two tonnes of food waste can be converted into one tonne of complete food 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.

The food waste comes 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 blend them to make complete feeds,” says Boyle.

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.

Methane and CO2

While there is much debate and discussion around CO2 and its impact on global warming, the adverse effects of methane should be acknowledged. Around 30% of human food produced goes to waste and when that food goes to landfill it produces methane – a gas that is 20 to 30 times worse than CO2 at trapping heat. “Food waste rotting in landfill actually emits nearly six times the amount of greenhouse gases as the global aviation industry," says Dr Lapidge. "If we are going to do something about climate change, we really need to be looking closely at food waste."

In New Zealand, 9% of the country’s biogenic methane emissions and 4% of the total greenhouse gas emissions are from food and organic waste. The country has thus committed to halving its per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels by 2030, and reducing food losses along production and supply chains, including postharvest losses. Australia's emissions reduction targets of 43% by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050 have been enshrined in legislation. Effectively managing food waste will contribute to meeting that goal.

Successful trials

Chickens

This study was conducted under the guidance of Dr Amy Moss, a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Environmental and Rural Science, UNE. Dr Moss focuses on poultry nutrition and researches ways to promote efficient chicken-meat production.

Dr Moss and her team collaborated with Poultry Hub and Food Recycle to conduct a 40-week feed trial on layer hens using a food waste diet provided by Food Recycle. Egg quality and hen health were measured throughout the trial and then results compared. The study demonstrated the advantages of food waste-based feed for laying hens. Performance was improved with food waste-based diets and egg production and quality was largely unchanged.

Aquaculture

Another important food source that will benefit from food waste recycling is aquaculture, which in New Zealand includes trout, salmon, and kingfish among others. In Australia a major focus is barramundi (a species of bass). This fish is widely farmed across most of Australia and the sector is expected to grow 14% each year, with annual production going from the current 9,000 tonnes to 25,000 tonnes by 2025. Cost-effective aquaculture food production will be beneficial to the growth of this sector and Food Recycle has tapped into the one of the world’s largest multidisciplinary science and research organisations, CSIRO. Under the organisation’s Kick-Start programme, Australian innovators and small businesses are provided with funding support and access to CSIRO’s research expertise and capabilities to help grow and develop their business. Food Recycle was one of the businesses chosen for this grant. Over a six-week period, CSIRO Scientist Dr Ha Truong conducted a feed trial on barramundi using a food waste diet with the feed provided by Food Recycle.

“Significant growth improvements were observed when food waste ingredients were incorporated in diets at 67%, partially replacing traditional ingredients,” says Dr Ha. Interestingly, the high food waste diet increased weight gain of the barramundi by 35% and intake by 13% compared to the control while also achieving a food conversion ratio of less than 1, indicating that the conversion of diet into fish growth was highly efficient.

The challenge of reducing food waste has attracted the attention of the Australian Government which launched the National Food Waste Baseline in 2019. This project is the first detailed quantification of food waste in Australia across the full food supply and consumption chain, from primary production through to consumption and disposal or recovery. The resulting strategy adopts a circular economy approach and seeks to capture food waste as a resource.

Technology-led innovations like the one from Food Recycle are key to meeting environmental targets. “We are working to convert food waste from a problem into a product and have successfully demonstrated this,” says Boyle.

About Food Recycle

Food Recycle is an Australian technology start-up that was founded to tackle the global problem of food waste. The company has patented and patent-pending technology to convert any commercial food waste into high performance animal feeds. Located in NSW, Australia, the company has worked with some of the best scientists in the country to develop and validate the technology.

Since inception, the company has heavily focused on Research and Development. With the technology being implemented in Australia and New Zealand, the company's focus is now on licensing opportunities in the international market. www.foodrecycle.com