Case Study: From Potato Skin to Pet Food

How your bakery waste can fuel the circular economy

Food Waste: Liability, or Opportunity?

It is estimated that 2.3 million tons of edible food is wasted in Canada each year, costing the Canadian economy over $21 billion. When food is wasted, so is the energy and resources used in the production and distribution process, therefore there are substantial environmental, social, and economic opportunities for companies to address this problem while reducing costs and opening new revenue streams.

It's easier than ever for manufacturers to recover food waste.

Food manufacturers can act on this opportunity to reduce food waste in multiple ways. PRI Environmental helps manufacturers turn bakery waste into ingredients for animal feed through its partner, SPB Solutions.

PRI Environmental helps manufacturers turn bakery waste into ingredients for animal feed.

Don't have time to read the article now? Download the case study and read it at your convenience!

Download Case Study

SPB Solutions collects bakery food waste and select other food waste streams, to process into valuable ingredients for animal feed and pet food.

Waste Inputs

Flour, baked goods, raw dough, pasta, cereal, crackers, other mixed products.

End Products

Ingredients in animal feed (e.g. fish, poultry, livestock) and pet food.

Production Capacity

1,400 tonnes/week in Ontario.
1,100 tonnes/week in Quebec.

Value Generated

$50-$100/tonne on average by upcycling bakery food waste.

PRI's Partner in Transforming Food Waste

SPB is a Canadian leader in food and agricultural by-products recovery and collection. SPB diverts bakery waste from landfills and recovers the value by producing high-quality animal feed ingredients.

60+ years of experience.
Ontario + Quebec.
Entire food by-product management cycle.
Animal feed recipes developed by livestock nutritionists.
Up to 2,500 tonnes of food waste processed per week.
Up to 1,315 tonnes of CO2 saved per week.

The Process: How it Works

SPB's internally developed processes reengineer, process, and convert the collected food waste and produces high-quality products for animal feed manufacturers.

Here is SPB's production process:

1. On-site collection
2. Transportation
3. Target re-engineering and processing
a. Debagging
b. Mixing
c. Drying & Cooling
d. Quality Assurance
4. Sale of final product to end user

On-site Collection & Transportation

SPB collects several different types of food waste — from potato skins to cookies. SPB has all the necessary equipment and resources to seamlessly collect and process waste from their clients' facilities, including:

Compactors
Trailers equipped with moving floors
Vestibules
Dumpers and weight systems with telecom modems
Data management solutions

All of this ensures your waste is picked up and distributed on time and without additional work from your end.

Leave your waste in its packaging
SPB's collection systems allow for waste to be collected with packaging, making the process less cost- and resource-intensive for their clients. A turbo separator separates the product from its packaging. Then, the clean product is taken through multiple screens and magnets to ensure only food waste remains.

Target Re-Engineering & Processing

1. Debagging

All incoming raw materials are debagged, strained, and put through magnetic processes to clear any unwanted material.

2. Mixing

Using recipes developed by SPB nutritionists, the team blends the clear raw materials to ensure that the nutrient profile is consistent and the feed is palatable.

3. Drying

The product is heated up to remove any remaining bacteria, and cooked to ensure all raw dough or other materials are in a workable consistency and safe for animal consumption.

4. Cooling

The cooling process removes excess moisture from the mixture and ensures the final product is ready for quality assurance and packaging.

5. Quality Assurance

A rigorous quality assurance check ensures that the moisture content and nutritional value of the animal feed meets internal requirements. SPB samples its products daily and sends weekly composites to ensure the highest levels of quality and consistency.

Additionally, SPB prioritizes maintaining suppliers to minimize changes in the process and engages nutritionists regularly to adapt recipes based on the needs of their animal feed buyers.

Sale of Final Product

The final product is then shipped off to live-stock feed mills for use by fish, poultry, or livestock. SPB has two main products: ENERGRO®, and INGENEX.

ENERGRO®
A combination of inedible bakery waste, sweet goods, and chips (corn/potatoes) recovered from the food industry. ENERGRO® is:

Highly palatable (cooked starch, fats, and sugar)
Highly digestible (cooked starch)
Energy-dense
Sanitized (heat dried)

These attributes and its handling ease make it an attractive value-added feed ingredient for poultry, swine feeds and pet foods.

INGENEX is an ingredient ideally developed for swine and poultry diets.

INGENEX is:

High fat (ensures that it is a sufficient source of energy)
Low sodium

Adding INGENEX to swine and poultry feed can measurably improve pellet quality.