Designing a bio-based economy for materials used in agriculture processing

While ‘PPE’ has become synonymous with facemasks, shields, and gloves during the pandemic, the team from Silver Fern Farms that came to XLabs LIVE has a different view. To them, PPE represents the thin plastic line that protects workers, products, and customers in their meat processing plants around the country. 

Unfortunately, it also represents 1,710 tonnes of contaminated single-use plastic aprons, gloves, and hairnets that they send to landfill each year - that’s equivalent to 25 truckloads… or 15,981 Richie McCaws.

Silver Fern Farms produce 30% of all New Zealand lamb, beef and venison, and are on a mission to drive a ruminant revolution. They came to XLabs to investigate circular solutions for contaminated soft plastic waste from the processing sites, and throughout the week explored many angles. 

The team landed on a multi-step plan, with the goal of initially reducing waste through a program of education, behaviour change, and looking at recovery options. Ultimately, however, the team have their eyes set on creating a high value biomaterials economy for NZ, reducing their reliance on fossil fuels to create single use plastic and ultimately generating a more circular outcome for PPE. 

“Silver Fern Farms is excited to be part of the XLabs programme in 2022. We continue to drive sustainability initiatives deeper into our business as we re-imagine our future, and the opportunity to refine our circular economy thinking through the XLabs programme is too good to pass up.”

— Nick Rowe, Innovation Manager, Silver Fern Farms 

The Silver Fern Farms team really went deep to reimagine the future, resolving to invest in research and development to explore higher value opportunities for processing waste streams. Using Circularity’s Circular-by-Design methods of Smart Materials, Closed Loop Systems, and Circular Business Models, they’re looking to explore the feasibility of creating biobased petrochemical replacement products from within their own closed loop system. 

Also using the method of Regenerative Behaviours, the solution is going to require collaboration across their entire value chain, engagement with the research community and working in close partnership with key vendors to enable their ambition to be realised, and we have no doubt that this team can make it happen! 

“The XLabs LIVE week was a great opportunity for a cross-functional Silver Fern Farms team to go deep on a single issue and consider a problem from multiple angles. The result was a multi-stage approach to solve our PPE waste to landfill issue. The Silver Fern Farms XLabs team have maintained the momentum beyond the LIVE week and continued to explore, validate and begin to execute on some of the thinking generated, giving rise to some exciting and revolutionary opportunities for the meat processing sector in NZ. Watch this space!

- Carla Harris, Group Risk Manager, Silver Fern Farms

XLabs is made possible through partnership with Ministry for the Environment/Manatū mō te Taiao, Tātaki/Auckland Unlimited, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Toitū Envirocare, Kantar, Callaghan Innovation, Trees That Count, Greenhouse Capital New Zealand, and Circularity.