Circularity Starts With a Supply Chain for Byproducts

A food processing byproduct does not become valuable simply because a potential use exists. Moving it into a new food or industrial application at commercial scale requires specifications, collection systems, processing capacity, committed partners, and a market. Circularity, in other words, needs a supply chain of its own.

That message emerged from the Scientific & Technical Forum “How Do Circular Economy Principles Reduce Food Loss While Strengthening Supply Chain Stability?” at IFT FIRST Annual Event and Expo. Panelists included Kaitlin Mogentale of Divert and founder of the upcycled snack brand Pulp Pantry, now Trashy; the University of Florida’s Ziynet Boz; and the University of Manitoba’s Nandika Bandara.

Scaling Starts Before Formulation

Mogentale described the work required to turn fresh vegetable pulp from juice production into an ingredient for Pulp Pantry chips. The company and its juice partners established purchase-order procedures, collection bins, labeling, and handling practices. Quality teams, operations staff, and production workers also had to treat the pulp as an ingredient rather than waste.

The ingredient then had to fit a system built for dry vegetable powders and potato starch. Wet, high-fiber pulp behaved differently on the line. “We couldn’t just force feed it into the traditional manufacturing line,” Mogentale said. Food scientists, bakers, plant operators, and the contract manufacturer had to develop another process.

Early test-kitchen work did not transfer cleanly to commercial production. Drying could have stabilized the pulp, but the cost would have weakened the economics. A line operator ultimately improved consistency without that step. Mogentale said earlier collaboration with a scalable manufacturer would have reduced the time and cost of learning on the production line.

Match Quality and Volume to the Right Market

Bandara’s group characterizes agricultural byproducts such as canola meal and connects their chemical properties with the functionality they may provide after processing. Predictive ranges could help processors adjust conditions as feedstocks change while maintaining a consistent finished product.

The best destination depends on material quality and available volume. A protein fraction that retains the needed functionality may become a food ingredient. Other fractions may be better suited to packaging, adhesives, biopolymers, or platform chemicals. “Which way we go will basically depend on the raw material quality and the scale,” Bandara said.

Companies also need to work within the economics of the primary process. Oilseed processors may resist changing established crushing and extraction systems because their margins come mainly from oil. Circular solutions may be easier to adopt when they use existing side streams instead of requiring a costly overhaul.

Models Can Expose Cost and Capacity Constraints

Boz said systems models can help companies evaluate circular options before committing capital or disrupting production. A model might examine a process or map material movement among suppliers, processors, collectors, and customers. A digital twin links operational data to a physical counterpart so companies can simulate decisions.

Those tools can expose cost and capacity constraints, compare network options, and test responses to disruption. Better modeling depends on trusted ways for growers, manufacturers, logistics providers, and researchers to share information when intellectual property concerns limit open data. Funding must also account for long development and payback periods.

The business case changes with the pathway. Data can help retailers prevent waste; edible surplus can move to donation; and other material can move to animal feed, compost, or renewable energy. But a pilot-scale upcycler may not absorb a manufacturer’s full residual volume. Partnerships must match capacity with compliance, quality, brand protection, operational, and return-on-investment requirements.

Flexible Processing Supports Resilience

The panelists also challenged the idea that consistency requires less crop diversity. Bandara said processors should adjust operations for varied incoming materials while delivering the product consumers expect. Boz argued that modular technologies that can be combined or added to existing lines could help companies accept more diverse inputs without a years-long plant overhaul.

Together, those examples position circularity as an operating model rather than a waste-reduction claim. Successful systems need multiple destinations for materials, processes that can accommodate variability, data that reveal trade-offs, and partners able to move an idea from pilot scale to commercial volume.

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