03 Mar 2025 Westfalia Fruit’s new repurposing of avocado waste

The avocado is indeed a wonderful fruit – with Westfalia Fruit finding yet another way not to repurpose its bounty….

South Africa’s Westfalia Fruit, a global leader in the avocado industry, is committed to utilising all parts of the avocado across the supply chain.

Any unsuitable avocados are processed at into products like avocado pulp, smashed avocado and guacamole. The avocado skins and seeds from the process, which were previously typically used in low-value applications such as anaerobic digesters, are now finding new, innovative, higher value alternative uses.

Having partnered with Efficiency Technologies, the valorisation of the entire byproduct channel of avocado skins and stones is assessed to optimise use, with the most recent development being an innovative technology extracting a natural, sustainable dye from avocado stones, with SAGES London.

The specialised extraction method isolates perseorangin, which constitutes approximately 3% of the avocado stone, and processes it into a dried powder form, undertaken at its UK factory.

The pigment offers eight distinct shades ranging from light yellow to rich reddish-brown, creating new opportunities for sustainable colouring solutions across multiple industries.

“This breakthrough represents a significant step in our journey toward our total crop use strategy,” says Andrew Mitchell, head of Group Innovation at Westfalia Fruit.

“By transforming what was once considered byproduct into a valuable resource, we’re creating sustainable solutions that benefit multiple industries seeking alternatives to synthetic dyes.

“The ability to produce eight distinct natural shades while maintaining our commitment to use the entire fruit demonstrates the potential of innovative thinking in sustainable agriculture.”

Beyond dye extraction

Besides the dye extraction, remaining materials from the avocado skins and stones are also processed into additional valuable products – for example, starches are directed to paper manufacture as a precursor to packaging production, while ground materials find applications in cosmetics as natural exfoliants, as alternatives to micro-plastics.

This innovation comes at a time when consumer demand for natural, sustainable products continues to rise across fashion, beauty and packaging sectors.

The commercial potential and versatility of the natural dye have already been demonstrated through several high-profile applications. The pigment’s successful showcase at London Fashion Week highlighted its viability in sustainable fashion, while ongoing collaborations with industry leaders in cosmetics and packaging demonstrate its cross-sector appeal.

Away from the UK, the process shows scalability and plans are underway to see how the technology could be expanded to additional Westfalia facilities in Europe and the world, where more avocado byproduct can be processed using the same techniques.

Source: Westfalia Fruit