WASTE2FUNC

Bioplastics and soaps from food waste

Fruit and vegetables that do not meet standards, burned or rotten fruit due to extreme summers, side streams and waste streams from the food industry: they almost without exception end up in the trash or are burned. This results in unnecessary CO2 emissions, while there are numerous other possible applications. Between 2021 and 2024, the European WASTE2FUNC project investigated how these streams and also other side and waste streams from the food industry could be converted into organic soaps and bioplastics.

The project also explored the establishment of a biorefinery, where functional molecules are made from all the collected food waste. Those molecules are then used for bioplastics and as ingredients in cosmetics, organic soaps and other applications. No fossil fuels such as petroleum are used for the WASTE2FUNC processes. Maximum sustainability is the goal. Meanwhile, two follow-up projects have started in 2024: SURFs UP and CIRCLE. SURFs UP realizes the further marketing of the technology for making biological soaps, by the Ghent start-up AmphiStar. One of the project goals is to build a DEMO plant in the port of Antwerp. CIRCLE is facilitating the construction of a first commercial plant by Belgian/Israeli company TripleW, which will produce the building block for a type of bioplastic. 

WASTE2FUNC, in collaboration with project partner Ecoson, also developed a registration website/app to register food waste streams for collection. The website is available at this link: https://melden.ecoson.be/EcosonCustomerPortal/Login. Account registration can be done after creating a customer account after contacting Ecoson.