Dozens of Companies Now Selling Upcycled Food Products
There is a growing trend in the food market: upcycling food products in order to make profit from items that would otherwise have ended up in the trash.
According to ReFED (Rethink Food Waste) which is a nonprofit coalition that recently held an industry census, they claim that there are at least 64 companies who are now well established and they are selling upcycled food products that would've otherwise been wasted.
There are a number of companies invested in selling a variety of upcycled products: ReGrained, SecondsFirst, Pulp Pantry, Sir Kensington's, and many others.
It's easy to disguise these unwanted food items with their products like jam, chips, and beer, and by upcycling the food items they are helping to divert those food items from landfills.
These companies which have found success making a profit from this method, are also said to be inspiring the much bigger multinational food companies to restructure their own approach. Although, well-known corporations like Coca Cola and American Airlines etc, are already said to be well-invested in using recycled products as part of their business strategy.
Food that might be considered waste to many, still has a lot to offer, and these companies aren't going to let those products go to waste if they can put them to good use. Waste can quite literally become a profit generator and it makes good economic sense to try and profit from what would otherwise be garbage; more companies are starting to learn that.
There are millions of tons of edible food that get thrown away every single year (estimated to be roughly 63 million tons every year) and that is a lot of product that can be put to good use, upcycled and provide a profit rather than going to waste.
ReFED estimates that these companies might be saving more than 102,000 tons of food or more every single year from landfills.
Pics:
Pixabay
Sources:
http://www.refed.com/tools/innovator-database/
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/trash-profit-the-hot-new-trend-in-food-is-literal-garbage
http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/09/5-cool-ways-food-waste-is-getting-upcycled/
http://www.refed.com/?sort=economic-value-per-ton
https://hbr.org/1993/11/recycling-for-profit-the-new-green-business-frontier
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/19/the-hot-new-trend-in-food-is-literal-garbage/?utm_term=.1f29a6a6c756
Man, this is really cool. We do throw away way too much food here, I've seen it first hand. Some places even enforce it as a rule to throw even perfectly edible food away and not give it away or donate it or anything which is crazy. But this is nice to see an alternative.
Seems like a great trend! A great way to battle food waste :D
like this idea a lot, most of our jams, jellies and sauces already come from this sort of stuff anyway :)
Is it good for health?
most of the food that isn't aesthetically pleasing just won't make it to market, there is nothing inherently wrong with it though just doesn't look pleasing enough to be sold commercially and therefore usually gets wasted
This is a great idea, it is stunning how much food is thrown away because it "looks ugly". I'm so glad to see companies taking action on this.
A sandwich restaurant that I used to frequent did something similar with their stale bread and loaf ends. It was all diced up with spices and a little oil then roasted to create croutons for their salads. They NEVER purchased croutons, and their wasted bread was almost zero. It was also tasty having croutons made from sour dough, rye, pumpernickel and other varieties of bread. Very colorful.
brilliant!
Half of all US food produce is thrown away, new research suggests
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/13/us-food-waste-ugly-fruit-vegetables-perfect
Do you ever eat Ketchup or tomato sauces?? It comes from the tomatoes that are rotting or are no good for the store... I don't eat ketchup and stuff like that because i don't like the taste but I thought people should know... And fermented foods are very good for our health as long as everything is done with proper procedure :) which i'm sure the companies try their best to do.
I never thought about it)) Thanks for the information))
Can you please explain UPCYCLING in one statement?
I would say that it means you are re-purposing and making use of products that would otherwise have gone to waste.
Thanks for this.
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Excellent post!! thank you for sharing
Excellent post! I like your work My friend
(~.~)
Although I'd rather eat fresh... upvoted :D good article!
it still is fresh :) it just doesn't look that nice lol so when they use it in their jam for ex) their jam is still fresh not expired haha
Well said!! We also have (as you may) food banks in the UK for people who are going through a difficult time, but that is more for non perishable food, as well as food close to "use by". Mind you, when an elderly relative died recently, leaving umpteen tins, I had a job to track down the local food bank to donate them to! Mentioning this to a friend she said that her local church had a permanent `supermarket trolley at the back for ongoing food donations. A brilliant idea !!