Imagine… You hold in your hands a tub of our peeled and sliced Frutifresh melon. You can’t wait to sink your teeth into it because you see the juicy melon, peeled and cut to a size that is ideal for poking and eating. But… wait! How about reflecting for a moment on what has happened to the parts of the melon that are not there? Where has its bark and seeds gone? How many kilos of this waste can we generate at Vicente Peris during the year and what happens to it? There are many questions to which we have answers, because we have been working for years on the correct management of the waste we generate with our activity. Every waste, be it organic, cardboard, plastic or wood, has a dignified and environmentally friendly end, a process that valorizes the waste and integrates it into the so-called circular economy. Let’s go back to the melon you are holding in your hands. You are about to enjoy its pulp, but you know what, you are not the only one who is going to lick it. Margarita, who is a cow, is going to feast on its rind. And the seeds?
We have been sending the seeds since last year to the University of Castilla-La Mancha for a research project in which we are collaborating and thanks to which we will obtain functional foods (healthier), substituting their saturated fats for saturated fats.The seeds will be replaced by polyunsaturated and antioxidant oils from these seeds, replacing their saturated fats.
At Peris we generate and properly manage 2 million tons of organic waste per year.
Management of organic waste from fruits and vegetables
Finding a responsible and useful solution for each of the waste we generate is something we take to heart. And do not think that this is something simple, since in a year we are able to generate about
2 million kilos of waste from all the fruits and vegetables we work with in I, IV and V range: watermelon, melon, white celery, pumpkin, pomegranate, mango, pineapple, peas, beans, orange… All these wastes are mostly rinds, seeds and, in the case of white celery, stems and leaves that we eliminate during the preparation of some of the formats we prepare of this fantastic product. Once removed, we store them in plastic bins, large-volume containers that we keep closed to prevent leakage of juices or leachates from the plant remains. In these containers we only pour vegetable waste suitable for livestock consumption, since, for example, we eliminate coconut bark or the crown of pineapples (their leaves) to prevent animals from choking on them. The bins generated in the fresh cut and pre-prepared convenience food plant
are kept in cold storage rooms at less than 10 degrees Celsius, until they are sent and managed from our headquarters through the livestock farms or waste managers with whom we collaborate. If we did not do this work of recovering waste to, in this case, feed livestock, it would end up in a landfill. Fortunately, since it is organic waste, it would be integrated into the soil and would not generate any environmental damage. However,
it makes much more sense for these remains to have a useful purpose, which is what is known as the valorization of by-products generated by the agri-food industry.
Remains of the agri-food industry managed with a useful purpose
Other materials, such as
cardboard, or especially
plastic, can be more problematic if their management is not adequate, and therefore,
in Vicente Peris we also deal with them in the most appropriate way possible. We will be talking about this in future articles. In the meantime,
enjoy your tub of peeled and sliced melon, because Margarita must already be doing it with her rinds.
