With Cleantech Discussion board Asia 2025 simply across the nook, it’s an opportune time to revisit among the insights shared finally yr’s occasion in Singapore.
The town-state is Southeast Asia’s agri-food tech hub; with that in thoughts, we hosted two panel discussions finally yr’s Discussion board centered on totally different areas of cleantech within the agriculture and meals worth chain. In at the moment’s weblog submit we’ll revisit the primary of these classes, which checked out novel approaches to valorizing waste and facet streams from the agri-food worth chain.
About 6% of world emissions are linked to agri-food waste particularly; double the quantity popping out of the aviation sector. When that waste leads to landfills it decomposes and generates methane and might trigger toxicity in soil and water by means of leaching. And these are simply the ecological impacts of meals loss and waste. In a world with a rising inhabitants and a shrinking quantity of accessible land to develop crops, decreasing pre-consumer losses is extra pressing than ever to strengthen world meals safety.
Innovation within the Agri-Meals Chain
Want is one firm that’s aiming to resolve this downside, whereas additionally tackling the carefully interrelated problems with danger and carbon depth in one of the crucial fragile agricultural provide chains there’s: espresso.
The Singapore-based start-up is upcycling agri-food byproducts like soy pulp from tofu and soymilk manufacturing, spent grain from beer brewing, and surplus bread from bakeries. It ferments these feedstocks to emphasise taste compounds just like these present in bean-derived espresso. The ultimate product is a floor espresso different that Want sells to foodservice institutions, in addition to ready espresso merchandise that it distributes itself.
Talking on a panel discussing agri-food waste valorization, Want co-founder and CTO DJ Tan defined that espresso is usually extra emissions-intensive, when it comes to carbon dioxide emitted per kilogram of produce, than dairy merchandise, rooster, fish, or pork.
“Agriculture can also be undermining itself, as local weather change reduces espresso yields,” he stated. “Our course of emits considerably much less carbon. By our estimates, we’re about 10 occasions extra sustainable than conventional espresso.”
Becoming a member of Tan on the panel was Kai-Ning Chua, co-founder and CMO at Insectta. Beginning out as a black soldier fly farm in 2018, the Singaporean firm later pivoted away from farming operations to focus on extraction and manufacturing applied sciences that may maximize the worth of the waste being recycled by the bugs.
“Whereas most individuals affiliate insect farming with animal feed or fertilizer, we give attention to prescription drugs, cosmetics, and natural electronics,” Chua informed attendees.
Right this moment, Insectta companions with farm operators to extract two high-value compounds from the black soldier fly: chitosan, which can also be sourced from crustaceans, and is utilized in varied industries from healthcare and packaging to agriculture and water therapy; and melanin, which has purposes in electronics and regenerative drugs.
“Our insect-sourced model has no heavy metals and better purity [and] we are able to produce it at a a lot decrease price and make it water soluble, which is an trade first,” Chua stated.
Funding in Meals Waste Innovation
Nevertheless, regardless of the obvious promise of those improvements, meals waste upcycling start-ups like Insectta and Want proceed to face challenges in the case of convincing would-be buyers.
Some nonetheless “assume we’re an insect farm,” stated Chua. “Many buyers know that insect farming is a low-margin, scale-driven enterprise. We have to make clear that we’re in biomaterials, not farming. As soon as we do, we clarify that we add financial worth by producing high-purity, practical components that assist sustainable manufacturing.”
For Tan, too, making the financial case as clear as potential is what will get buyers over the road.
“As soon as they see we’re addressing an actual ache level – rising espresso costs and provide chain points – they get it. Our resolution is market-driven,” he stated.
That strategy helped the corporate shut a $2M Seed spherical only a few months earlier than Cleantech Discussion board Asia 2024, with participation from buyers together with 500 World, Higher Chunk Ventures, Sopoong, Seeds Capital, and Entrepreneur First, amongst others.
It’s Not Simply Buyers That Want Convincing
Improvements like these developed at Want find yourself in merchandise that customers drink or eat; and within the case of Insectta, merchandise that customers could also be making use of to their pores and skin, or utilizing to deal with wounds.
“We attempt to downplay the bugs,” Chua stated. “The concept of utilizing bugs in our medication or cosmetics; there’s an emotional barrier there. So, in the case of our messaging, it’s very clear: We make chitosan and melanin for these industries that’s extra practical, that has extra financial viability, and sustainability is definitely within the background.”
Want’s technique has been to intentionally keep away from mentions of ‘waste’ in its client branding and advertising efforts, in line with Tan.
“What we have now discovered is that persons are extra prepared to simply accept one thing as soon as they’ve first tried it. They fight [Prefer] and say, ‘Hey, this does style like my common cup of Joe’. After which we inform them, ‘By the best way, no espresso beans had been utilized in that’. After which we see their minds shatter in entrance of us.”
For extra info on Cleantech Discussion board Asia 2025, being held 7th-8th Could in Singapore, and registration choices, please click on right here. Take part within the Powering Asia’s Agri-Meals Sector with AI session, and meet among the innovators who made our 2025 APAC Cleantech 25.
