Author: Richard Corsmit | CEO Duynie Group
You can only create a circular agro-food system through collaboration. A common language and methodology is a prerequisite for this.
By closing cycles, companies in the agro-food sector minimize their impact on the environment. In this way, they contribute to a food system that can withstand the challenges of climate change and population growth. As CEO of Duynie Group – part of Royal Cosun – I know our expertise in revaluing and upgrading co-products (residual flows) from the food and biofuel industry. We use this to make products and ingredients for food, animal feed and non-food applications such as wallpaper paste.
It is our ambition – in line with Cosun's ambition to become 100% circular – to play a central role in this transition and facilitate collaboration. All links in the value chain are important to jointly create a circular agro-food system. Only in this way can we achieve leverage that closes cycles and makes the food system strong and future-proof. This requires that everyone speaks the same language and that we agree on how we measure which impact.
Fortunately, there is an excellent method for this: Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). This makes it possible to measure and analyze the environmental impact of the entire life cycle of a product or service. This is a scientifically validated approach that also includes the supply of co-products (for example spent grain or steamed potato peels) and the processing of products and raw materials made from them in the analysis.
Based on LCAs, all links in the chain gain insight into the influence of the supply and use of co-products on the environment. This way, these companies know to what extent they meet the sustainable ambitions of their suppliers and customers in the chain. This methodology also indicates where there are more opportunities to close cycles and reuse co-products. Sustainability should be part of the business model. By working circularly as much as possible and measuring and knowing progress via LCAs, we are building a sustainable agro-food sector together.
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