A Ghent-based company manufactures raw material from food waste
Every year, 88 million tonnes of food are discarded in the EU. Ensuring an ecological solution for this food waste by turning it into bioplastics, among other things, and offering (petro)chemical products an alternative circular solution is the two-fold ambition of Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP), an experimental company based in the Ghent port area.
More specifically, food residue would be turned into two types of products. On the one hand, lactic acid, a raw material commonly used in the bioplastics production process in bio-industry. And, on the other hand, 'biosurfactants', which are fully biodegradable and harmless soaps, detergents and cosmetics.
BBEPP is cooperating with several companies at home and abroad. Initial results are promising, both in the field and in the laboratory. But in addition to technical obstacles, logistical obstacles have to be overcome before any progress can be made. To ensure a constant supply of food waste, a registration system, with a website and an app, will be set up on which food companies and large agricultural companies, among others, can use to enter their surplus stock. In this way, part of the added value created should be returned to producers. Furthermore, strict protocols and transparency would help increase business and consumer confidence in waste products.
BBEPP is currently the European leader in the field of pilot plants for the bio-industry.