Waste feedstock is one of the most sustainable inputs for the manufacture of bio-based materials. Waste from the banana industry has great potential as an industrial input. The biomass fibers left after harvesting can be a textile alternative to resource-intensive cotton.
For some developing countries, the use of waste crops to build a higher-value circular bio-economy is a viable approach that could help to bring the bio-industry of these countries into greater parity with that of richer countries.
First Background and current status: environmental value of banana waste
Globally, about 10 million tons of bananas are produced annually. Thirty-five per cent of the weight of bananas is peeled, generating 3.5 million tons of waste per year.
Banana peels discarded by consumers are only part of the problem: banana plantations also leave large amounts of unused material. Nearly 60% of banana biomass is discarded after harvest. Much of this consists of fleshy banana trunks that are left to rot in the fields where they were grown.
The use of this plantation waste as a biofuel is a possibility, converting the chemical energy stored in the trunks and other biomass into heat and electricity. However, banana waste is not an efficient source of fuel because most of the heat continues to burn the trunk and the considerable moisture content of the fruit.
A more efficient and sustainable way to utilize banana waste is to transform it into sustainable textiles. Today's global fashion industry relies heavily on fossilized materials, from polyester to water-intensive cotton grown on over-tilled soil. As the search for recycled textiles intensifies on a large scale, banana waste could be one of the ideal raw materials to meet the demand.
1. Ugandan community startup launches banana wearable device
As the world's second largest producer of bananas, Uganda is ideally placed to realize the value of banana waste.
Playing a key role in the Ugandan banana chain is the TexFas community enterprise. They have developed technology to extract banana fibers to produce high-quality textiles and handicrafts such as yarns, fabrics, carpets and lampshades for the home. These handicrafts are fully biodegradable.
This community-based enterprise was founded by Kimani Muturi in 2013. It collects post-harvest banana waste from smallholder farmers and also obtains large quantities of raw materials, mainly banana tree trunks, from Tupande Holdings. After harvesting, farmers usually let these trunks rot naturally in their fields.
TexFad is a startup with a difference, not only committed to the SDGs but also focused on economic development. Its social mission is to provide additional income to farmers and provide vocational qualifications and skills training to their weavers and processors. The ultimate mission of the venture is to create wealth, provide local employment opportunities and, to some extent, form a new industry based on an agro-economy that will support banana farmers in the face of low global prices.
The TexFad model of community entrepreneurship successfully combines sustainability and social goals, which is still relatively rare in the bioeconomy, but is critical to achieving a just transition from fossil fuel products to more sustainable alternatives.
2. Innovative utilization of banana peels in India
India is the world's largest producer of bananas, which means that a large amount of waste biomass is ripe for effective utilization.
Atma Leather is an Indian start-up company focused on meeting the market demand for sustainable alternatives to animal leather. The company utilizes domestic banana waste as its main ingredient under the brand name "Banofi". The product is made from 50 percent banana stem waste and 30 percent natural additives, and the company claims to have found a truly sustainable alternative to animal leather.
The leather industry has been known for its use of chemical pollutants and large amounts of water. Synthetic leather is similarly unsustainable due to its use of petroleum-based raw materials. With the growing demand for plant-based materials in the fashion industry, mainstream brands and luxury companies are looking for durable and compelling alternatives.
Currently, the production of vegan leather still requires the use of some fossilized chemicals. Completely plant-based materials often fail to meet consumer demands for durability and strength in products. In this regard, Banofi has reduced its carbon footprint by using 20% recycled polymers as backing material rather than virgin plastics.
3. Global markets and local cycles
Vegetable leather is getting attention in the high-end luxury market, but banana waste can also produce a natural fiber material that is particularly suited to casual styles, making it a sustainable alternative to cotton in the summer closet. Greenikk, an Indian agricultural startup, is making inroads into the banana waste value chain. They are converting waste into textiles. While there are already a number of small businesses in India converting banana waste into handmade materials, Greenikk is unique in its systematic, scaled approach to processing and manufacturing.
The key to scaling up the system was the development of a mechanized method of processing banana waste, which was done in collaboration with a research and development institute in Tanni, Tamil Nadu. Tanni is a major banana-producing region, and reducing the cost of processing the waste into usable fiber is key to achieving a viable production process.
After testing 45 banana varieties, the company selected varieties with the right color, tensile strength and cellulose content. Currently, the company is using three varieties that meet the requirements.
Greenikk has a network of more than 600 artisans who deliver banana plantation waste to the factory for processing into clothing and poultry feed. The company also has a design team that helps develop products for global markets such as Europe and the United States.
4. In Bangladesh, traditional knowledge meets new materials
In Bangladesh, a major banana-producing country, indigenous communities are involved in a national Government-supported project involving the hand-weaving of sari, which is made entirely of banana fibre. This material replaces the environmentally intensive cotton commonly used in traditional clothing.
The project is located in the Morwa Bazar district and, unlike Greenikk, is at the other end of the commercial scale spectrum, where costs are difficult to reduce without more advanced technical support. Nonetheless, the project demonstrates that banana waste can contribute to sustainable socio-economic resilience by providing communities with the means to tap into markets through the utilization of traditional weaving skills and available resources.
Second, why does the bioeconomy need waste?
Commodities made from biological resources are not automatically sustainable. Every raw material has an ecological cost, even renewable ones. Crops grown for the development of the bioeconomy can have a significant impact on carbon emissions, biodiversity loss and water pollution.
Currently, bioeconomy players are increasingly concerned about the sustainability of the feedstock for their products. In the European Union, it has been recognized that the increased demand for biomass is taking its toll on natural ecosystems, highlighting the need for conscious management to limit the impacts of even biobased industries, especially as economies explore renewable alternatives to fossil fuels.
The goal of the bioeconomy is to find high-yield, industrially versatile feedstocks based on sustainability that have the lowest possible impact on environmental indicators.
Bio-waste meets this requirement. This form of feedstock tends to be highly sustainable for several reasons. First of all, it's plentiful - waste material is produced on a large scale all the time globally. Businesses and farmers are usually very happy to get paid for this material that is taken away.
Using high abundance organic waste, bio-based companies do not need to grow virgin biomass from scratch on intensive farms. This means that waste-based bio-based products minimize the negative impacts of intensive agriculture on biodiversity and water pollution.
It also reduces carbon emissions by eliminating the need for fertilizers or destroying carbon sequestration ecosystems to make way for industrial cultivation. It also cleans up the environment by removing decaying biomass that would otherwise decompose and release carbon emissions.
Sustainable raw materials also vary by region. Depending on the composition of the agriculture or industry in a given country, the main raw materials vary from region to region. Utilizing abundant and local raw materials allows for greater economic self-sufficiency and security and reduces the risk of potential disruptions to global supply chains.
Third, circularity and fairness
Utilizing locally abundant waste streams is fundamental to achieving a more equitable bioeconomy. Banana preservation is a good example.
With production concentrated in low- and middle-income countries, new banana value chains based on agricultural biowaste could provide greater financial security for farmers and processors.
Producing food for global markets is an uncertain livelihood at the best of times, with prices prone to decline or fluctuate. Complementary activities such as selling bio-waste to processors can enable farmers to utilize high-value chemical and material markets for alternative incomes.
Start-ups like TexFad and projects like the Bangladesh Sari Weaving Project are realizing this potential by building sustainable domestic value chains that use their own natural resources to create domestic wealth at home.
Their initiative challenges the current paradigm of the bioeconomy, in which Western companies often extract cheap raw materials from developing countries and then process and manufacture them abroad. The unequal playing field between developed and developing biobased players ultimately limits the benefits of the bioeconomy and undermines efforts to decarbonize and sustain the economy on a global scale.
