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Sustainability

No adjectives on this page; a cycle and a measurement plan instead. We do not write “low energy” or “zero waste” without measuring.

Document
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Revision
2026.10
Status
Preview

01Cycle

Five products from a skin taken for waste.

The tomato's journey into added value Seed to field, field to tomato, tomato to paste; the skin left from paste becomes lycopene by supercritical CO₂ extraction, its spent material becomes plant protein by a biotechnological process, the rest becomes tomato skin fibre, and the fibre becomes bread and bioplastic. From field to factory SeedFieldTomatoTomato paste Left over from paste Taken for wasteTomato skin SupercriticalCO₂ extraction 01 · productLycopene IntermediateSpent skin Biotechnologicalprocess 02 · productPlant protein 03 · productTomato skin fibre 04 · productBread 05 · productBioplastic

Seed to fieldField to tomatoTomato to pastePaste to skin

  1. 01Dried, ground red tomato skin

    Tomato skin

    The skin left over from tomato paste, usually seen as waste.

  2. 02Supercritical CO2Red lycopene extract in a small glass bottle, held up in the facility

    Lycopene

    From the skin, by supercritical CO2 extraction.

  3. 03Light orange spent material in a petri dish

    Spent skin

    The skin without its lycopene, raw material for the next step.

  4. 04Cream-coloured plant protein in a petri dish held in the hand

    Plant protein

    From the spent skin, by biotechnological means.

  5. 05Brown and light-coloured fibre in two petri dishes

    Tomato skin fibre

    From the spent skin without lycopene and protein.

  6. 06
    A yellow fibre-enriched slice of bread on a plateWhite bioplastic caps in a hand

    Bread and bioplastic

    From fibre to bread; from fibre to bioplastic.

Fig. 1The tomato's journey into added value: an upcycling example. A skin seen as waste becomes five separate products in a chain that starts with supercritical extraction. The photographs show the work's own samples. Brand statement

Supercritical extraction is the first link in this chain: it takes the lycopene from the skin and leaves the spent material as raw material for the next step.

02Measurement plan

What we will measure.

Energy
Electricity and heat used per kilogram of product. Proposal
CO2 loop
The CO2 used in the system is recovered and reused. The amount of CO2 topped up per batch will be measured at serial production. Brand statement
Raw material yield
Extract obtained per kilogram of plant material. Proposal
Spent material
Where the spent plant material goes; the aim is for it to become raw material for the next product, as in the tomato example. Proposal

03Sourcing

Side streams can be a raw material.

Some raw materials, such as pomegranate and grape seed, can come from another production's side stream. Where each raw material comes from is written in the batch record; side-stream use will be shown here once documented.

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