Waste bread from bakery utilised as a grain substitute to produce beer while spent grains from brewery are used as an added ingredient in bread production.
Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) is facilitating an Industrial Symbiosis innovation demonstration pilot between St Mel’s Brewery and Panelto Food (both based in Co. Longford) funded by the EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency) 2019 Green Enterprise Fund.
Waste bread from a bakery will be utilised as a malted grain substitute to produce a novel beer by a brewery, while spent grains will be used as an added high nutritional value ingredient in bakery products.
Furthermore, barriers and enablers to widespread adoption of this industrial synergy in Ireland will be analysed within the bread and brewing sectors and beyond.
As part of this project, IMR will also develop policy recommendations to inform the scaling up of Industrial Symbiosis in Ireland.
Resources needed
Collaboration, innovation.
Evidence of success
Alternative use for waste streams for both businesses. By products from the two production processes with the potential to create novel co-products.
Difficulties encountered
Industrial Symbiosis requires a high level of cooperation and collaboration between companies.
Waste and by-product exchanges and valorisation opportunities through the development of new products are not always self-evident and need to be uncovered.
Potential for learning or transfer
There is both potential for learning and transfer from this pilot project. Industrial symbiosis, whereby the waste from one process is transformed into a resource for another, is a key principle of a circular economy model.
Tags: Circular economy, Food, Good practice, Innovation, Stakeholders, Waste
