UPCYCLED KIWI FRUIT WASTE – Cool Innovations That Other Industries Should Pay Close Attention To!

Bite into a kiwi and you’ll be immediately struck by its succulent and tangy flavor, reminiscent of ripe melon, strawberry and peach. Despite its relatively recent introduction to the states in 1962, its chartreuse flesh, studded with tiny black omega-3 rich seeds, has become a staple in fruit bowls and desserts as well as the go-to-flavoring in snacks produced for children. The furry egg-shaped gems, while delicious, are notorious for their poor stability, short shelf life and fragile nature during transport. Deteriorating and/or sub-standard kiwi fruit -- approximately 16 - 18% of New Zealand’s annual crop – is commonly used to augment animal feed, left to rot on the fields or disposed of in landfills. In other words, 49,920 tons of the vitamin-C-packed fruit is wasted each year.

Maniaia Mist Paper Solutions, founded by a former kiwi fruit packer, has come up with a brilliant solution to New Zealand’s vast eco-kiwi-print with their 65% kiwi fruit pulp and 35% unbleached, chemical-free eucalyptus paper pulp packing trays. Created from low-grade fruit that would normally be thrown out, the fully biodegradable, recyclable and compostable trays mimic the design of a standard egg carton and enable the industry to transport grade A kiwi more successfully, thereby reducing kiwi fruit and packaging waste. Sadly, their innovation is no match for wildly ludicrous European Union bans which stronghold retailers into tossing fruits deemed too small for consumption. Fortunately, Maniaia Mist is not the only one trying to rethink kiwi industry waste.

Zespri Innovation and Scion are pursuing kiwi bio fuel research and also determining whether the fruit can be utilized in the adhesives and bio plastics market. Preliminary research on its bio fuel applications suggest that the energy that can be recovered from kiwi fruit waste is about 10% of the energy used for growing, packaging and distribution. This bio gas could potentially be used to power fruit packing sheds and the cool storage facilities necessary to stabilize kiwi fruits for months on end. Both companies acknowledge that the 10% figure is somewhat small, but in the grand scheme of things, it would certainly help offset the industry’s carbon footprint which is currently estimated to range between 5 and 10 percent. They are still busy investigating the opportunity and hope to yield solid findings in the near future.

In the lesser-known-kiwi-facts-department, I was surprised to discover that California kiwi fruit growers have made an effort to utilize more than just the fruit. While they commonly mulch kiwi vines in an effort to reduce their dependence on pesticides, they reserve naturally coiled and curiously twisted vines for area florists who use them to enhance decoratively arranged bouquets. Did you know that kiwi fruit branches and leaves are also frequently used to make rope in China and can also be boiled in water, creating a foolproof treatment for mange in dogs? How about this? An enzyme in kiwi fruit called Actinidin breaks down protein, making it a natural and effective meat tenderizer which can work in as little as 15 minutes. As far as curious kiwi fruit facts are concerned, this one takes the cake. If the bark of a kiwi fruit vine is removed in one piece and placed in hot ashes, it will naturally curl up into a firm tube which can be used as a pencil. Kiwi, we hardly knew ye!

http://agricultureguide.org/upcycledd-kiwi-fruit-waste-%e2%80%93-cool-innovations-that-other-industries-should-pay-close-attention-to/