Businesses Awarded £200,000 for Sustainable Food and Drink Innovation
- Growing Kent & Medway
- Sep 24, 2024
- 4 min read
Our second Business Sustainability Challenge competition has awarded grants to six innovative projects to boost sustainability in the food system.
Grants worth between £10,000 and £50,000 have been awarded to allow the six businesses to undertake short-term, high-impact, and innovative projects.
Each project aims to address a specific challenge leading to a commercial, yet environmentally sustainable solution, for local plant-based food and drink supply chains.
Lead Organisation | Project | Grant Award |
Incorporating seaweed into plastic blends for sustainable packaging | £50,000 | |
Transforming food waste using black soldier fly larvae | £23,000 | |
Developing sustainable packaging solutions from brewers' spent grain | £43,000 | |
Producing fermented snacks from rescued fruits and vegetables | £25,000 | |
Developing low-cost bioreactors for beneficial microbe production | £46,000 | |
Optimising resource allocation in indoor farming | £13,000 |
Incorporating Seaweed into Plastic Blends for Sustainable Fresh Produce Packaging
Coronex is a start-up packaging manufacturer that produces reusable food packaging for the takeaway and ready-meal markets in the UK. They aim to produce innovative and sustainable packaging solutions for a diverse range of food industries.
To achieve this, Coronex undertook a feasibility study to review the current production of fresh fruit and vegetable packaging and assess the potential of incorporating more sustainable alternative raw materials in punnet manufacturing. They trialled mixing of seaweed into plastic blends, which could significantly reduce the carbon emissions associated with food packaging.
Our grant allowed Coronex to purchase the raw ingredients for these blending mix trials, including half a tonne of seaweed. The grant also supported Coronex to work with industry experts, who will help develop the material formulation and product design to suit Coronex’s packaging requirements.
Lead organisation: Corona Packaging Ltd
Collaborators: W B Chambers Farms Ltd, Machere Ltd
Grant award: £50,000
Transforming Food Waste into Feed and Fertiliser using Black Soldier Fly Larvae
Inspro aims to reduce food ‘waste’ by transforming it into sustainable animal feed and natural fertiliser using black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae. These larvae efficiently consume large amounts of organic matter and excrete frass: a nutrient-rich, low-emissions fertiliser. Once the larvae have matured, they can be fed to poultry, wild birds, hedgehogs, and fish as an alternative protein source.
Inspro will provide local regenerative farms and smallholdings with their own in-house bioconversion units, including instructions and neonates (recently hatched fly eggs). This will allow businesses to minimise their food waste by converting it to frass to fertilise their crops. Inspro will then compare the performance of several crops grown with frass to those produced using conventional techniques.
Our grant allowed Inspro to provide several bioconversion units to farms and smallholdings in Kent, free of charge. It also supported the analysis of the nutritional content and safety of the frass produced, as well as its effectiveness as a fertiliser for horticultural crops.
Lead organisation: Inspro Ltd
Collaborator: Wanstall Holdings Ltd., University of Kent
Grant award: £23,000
Turning Food Waste into Fertiliser
A circular system using Black Soldier Fly larvae converts by-products into animal feed and frass for fertiliser.
Developing Sustainable Packaging Solutions from Brewers' Spent Grain
Essel Innovation & Development Services specialises in offering healthy South Indian cuisine in the Maidstone area. They aim to create sustainable, environmentally friendly products that contribute to the circular economy.
Sourcing sustainable packaging is a significant barrier to achieving this aim. Therefore, Essel is embarking on a project to develop bespoke packaging solutions from brewers' spent grain. By utilising a by-product of the brewing process, Essel intends to reduce waste and emissions produced by both the brewing and food industries.
Our funding allowed Essel to purchase the raw ingredients required to produce sustainable packaging from brewer's spent grain. The grant supported the process of optimising the packaging for takeaway South Indian cuisine, comprehensive safety testing, and the manufacturing process.
Lead organisation: Essel Innovation and Development Services
Collaborators: Goacher’s Brewery Ltd
Grant award: £43,000
Producing Fermented Snacks from Rescued Fruits and Vegetables
Fermenti is a gut health snack start-up that has developed a fermented fruit macaron that supports digestive wellness. Their products are created using a combination of traditional fermentation and freeze-drying techniques, resulting in both pre- and probiotic snacks containing billions of live microorganisms per portion.
The company aims to develop a new range of functional snacks by fermenting rescued fruits, vegetables, and by-products from the food manufacturing process. Through this product development project, they intend to reduce food waste by collaborating with an existing manufacturer, Nim's Naturally. Additionally, they will investigate more energy-efficient drying methods and sustainable packaging options.
Lead organisation: Fermenti
Collaborators: Nim’s Naturally
Grant award: £25,000
Fermenting Gut-Friendly Snacks
A collaborative project is turning fruit and vegetable by-products into tasty, healthy snacks.
Developing Low-Cost Bioreactors for Beneficial Microbe Production in Agriculture
PlantWorks is pioneering the use of beneficial microbes in agriculture, horticulture, and gardening. They are the UK's only mass producer of mycorrhizal fungi, which improve plants' ability to gather resources from the soil. PlantWorks produces a range of products that incorporate mycorrhizal fungi and beneficial bacteria to improve soil health and reduce reliance on inorganic fertilisers, while remaining cost-effective.
PlantWorks aims to develop low-cost modular rocking bioreactors to increase their production capacity for plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria. By adapting technologies developed by the pharmaceutical industry, they intend to reduce the cost of rhizobacteria production, develop crop-specific, multi-species blends, and meet market demands.
Lead organisation: PlantWorks Ltd
Grant award: £46,000
Optimising Resource Allocation in Indoor Farming with Data Management Platforms
RUBISKO creates bespoke data and operations management platforms for indoor and vertical farming systems. They support sustainable agriculture by streamlining data infrastructure, allowing businesses to optimise resource allocation. This could lead to more efficient use of resources, including water and fertilisers, minimising waste while increasing yields, and reducing the environmental impact of indoor farming.
To further this aim, RUBISKO will be working with indoor farms located in Kent and around the UK. They will build an understanding of the needs of these businesses through site visits and interviews, and will develop bespoke software in collaboration with key stakeholders. This software will be tailored to the requirements of each business and will be iteratively improved with their feedback.
Lead organisation: RUBISKO
Grant award: £13,000
Scaling Emerging Agri-Tech Software
Driving efficiencies in emerging agricultural industries with advanced digital tools.
