Australian company Food Recycle Ltd has developed technology that converts commercial food waste into animal feed, reducing landfill waste, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and fostering a circular economy.
Following successful trials with layer hens, prawns, barramundi, and aquaponics, the company is now seeking a $3 million capital raise via the crowd-funding platform, Swarmer, to commercialise the technology and scale up in Australia and New Zealand, the firm said in a news release.
“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 Food Recycle CEO Norm Boyle.
Boyle added, “The funds will also help with cash flow requirements as we look to appoint a technology and knowhow licensee for Australia and New Zealand, which will construct multiple production facilities, with Food Recycle receiving royalty payments on the sale of feed by the licensee.”
The licensee is expected to build a minimum of 25 production facilities over a 10-year period, with 12 facilities anticipated in the first five years.
The Swarmer crowd-funding campaign enters a three-week Expressions of Interest (EOI) phase on 8 August, followed by a three-week investment phase. Individual investments start from $100, with investors receiving shares in the company.
According to the Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water (DCCEEW), 30 per cent of all human food is wasted globally.
Food Recycle’s patented production process tackles this issue by delivering sustainability, circular economy, and food security outcomes.
Unlike other processes that only partially address the problem by creating secondary products from food waste, Food Recycle takes the innovative step of using food waste to produce food directly.
“This capital raise provides everyone the chance to get in on the ground floor with a technology that is making a positive environmental difference in the world,” said Boyle.
Food Recycle has developed a patented process to efficiently handle food waste from various sources, such as restaurants, abattoirs, farms, and processors. Each food waste stream is individually processed, analysed, and stored separately as ingredients.
“We then measure the nutritional and amino acid profile of each ingredient and mix them together to create complete feeds,” explained Boyle.
Two tonnes of food waste can be converted into one tonne of complete feed suitable for poultry, pigs, and aquaculture. This process not only prevents methane generation but also eliminates every known biosecurity risk at no additional cost.
Rigorous trials conducted by CSIRO, Western Sydney University (WSU), and the University of New England (UNE) have demonstrated the viability of Food Recycle’s process.
The trials showed that food waste could be removed from landfill, reintroduced into the food chain, and converted into animal feed that produces larger, healthier hens, eggs, and fish.
“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,” says Boyle.
Express your interest via Swarmer: https://swarmer.com.au/en/company/food-recycle/overview/
