Global avocado producer, Westfalia Fruit, has partnered with UK-based tech company, Efficiency Technologies, on a food waste reduction project, turning avocado skins and stones into a sustainable dye.
Westfalia stated it was committed to utilising all parts of the avocado across the supply chain, with each imported fruit for retail, food service, and wholesale customers being carefully inspected.
Any unsuitable avocados are processed at Westfalia’s facility into products like avocado pulp, smashed avocado, and guacamole. The avocado skins and seeds were previously used in low-value applications such as anaerobic digesters, but are now finding innovative, higher value alternative uses.
Efficiency Technologies has helped Westfalia develop an innovative technology extracting a natural, sustainable dye from avocado stones, with Sages London.
The process extracts perseorangin (a rare natural pigment) from avocado stones collected at Westfalia's UK facility. Perseorangin constitutes approximately 3 per cent of the avocado stone, and the extraction process transforms it into a dried powder form, offering extended shelf life.
The pigment offers eight distinct shades, ranging from light yellow to reddish-brown, creating new opportunities for sustainable colouring solutions across multiple industries.
Remaining materials from the avocado skins and stones are also processed into additional valuable products – for example, starches are directed to paper manufacture as a precursor to packaging production, whilst ground materials find applications in cosmetics as natural exfoliants.
Westfalia Fruit head of group innovation, Andrew Mitchell, said this breakthrough represents a significant step in the company’s journey toward total crop use strategy.
“By transforming what was once considered a byproduct into a valuable resource, we're creating sustainable solutions that benefit multiple industries,” said Mitchell.
“The ability to produce eight distinct natural shades while maintaining our commitment to use the entire fruit demonstrates the potential of innovative thinking in sustainable agriculture.”
The process shows scalability, with plans underway to expand to additional Westfalia facilities in Europe and globally, so more avocado byproducts can be processed using the same techniques.
