Incarlopsa starts an R&D project focused on the recovery of waste for the development of biomaterials

18.05.2022
  • The initiative is aligned with the company’s philosophy of promoting a business model based on the circular economy where efficient waste management plays a key role.
  • The development of more sustainable materials is one of the lines of action of Incarlopsa’s R&D department. The company has 30 projects underway, 14 of which are supported by the CDTI.
  • The project has a budget of more than 420,000 euros.

Incarlopsa, a leading company from Castilla-La Mancha in the production and processing of pork products, is launching VALOR4MEAT, a research project focused on the valuation of the by-products generated by the company’s normal activity. With this R&D project, the company seeks to develop an integrated recovery model to generate polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), a type of biodegradable and biocompatible material produced by bacteria that shares many of the characteristics associated with plastics of petrochemical origin and which will be used in the manufacture of biomaterials.

This model would be integrated into an enzymatic hydrolysis process of collagen-rich waste that would also allow the company to advance the development and validation of the production of edible paper films.

This initiative has a budget of 420,728 euros, is supported by the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI), a public business entity under the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, which promotes innovation and technological development of Spanish companies, and will be carried out in collaboration with the Centro Tecnológico ITENE, a reference centre in Spain in the field of packaging and packaging and that promotes sustainability throughout the chain. 

“Incarlopsa’s environmental commitment is firm and innovation is a fundamental tool to continue advancing and implementing initiatives that allow us to reduce the impact of our activity. The efforts of our R&D team and the support provided by benchmarks in their field such as ITENE and the CDTI give an idea of the work that is being done”, explains Montserrat García, director of the Quality, R&D&I and Environment area at Incarlopsa.

Applied innovation and sustainability are two pillars of Incarlopsa’s future growth.

Innovation and sustainability are two of the strategic axes that form the company’s future growth model. Innovation focused on identifying and promoting initiatives that promote greater production efficiencies, contribute to the development of healthier products and strengthen Incarlopsa’s animal welfare standards through its own projects or in collaboration with academia and research.

 

The VALOR4MEAT project is aligned with Incarlopsa’s philosophy of promoting a business model based on the circular economy where the efficient management of waste, its recycling and recovery plays a fundamental role. In this commitment to innovation, Incarlopsa always tries to reduce the materials used in its packaging and seeks the incorporation of other more sustainable materials and the integration of circular economy criteria in its design.

Incarlopsa is also involved in the international Monomatpack project, which focuses on the validation of new recyclable and biodegradable materials for food packaging. Monomatpack is one of 14 research projects being developed by Incarlopsa with the support of the CDTI.