As numerous industry players prepare to gather in Berlin for fruit logistica (5-7 April, 2022), the world’s leading trade fair for the fresh fruit industry, the Westfalia Fruit Group will be unveiling a collection of innovative initiatives as part of its drive towards sustainable production. In one key initiative, Westfalia Fruit has pioneered a low-flow drip irrigation technique for avocado growing. It saves a large volume of water and it’s estimated that the approach will bring an overall 50% efficiency boost in farms where it is implemented. In use in several of Westfalia’s farms across South Africa, Portugal, Chile, and Mozambique, the technology will be rolled out across its global farming portfolio as old orchards are replanted with new ones.
At the same time, Westfalia Fruit’s business in France, has launched a new range of environmentally and consumer friendly packaging for avocados, dramatically reducing the use of plastic while successfully maintaining fruit quality. The cardboard in the zero plastic options are fully compostable and made with FSC certified materials, the only timber certification scheme endorsed by the conservation organisation WWF.
The third cutting-edge project will, for the first time, see Westfalia ground avocado seeds used in beauty products, replacing the now banned and environmentally harmful plastic micro-beads previously used. After three years of research, development and product testing, Westfalia Fruit’s business in the UK is supplying the ground avocado seeds to the premium beauty brand Dr. Craft for use as an exfoliator in a range of cosmetics. This project has demonstrated proof of concept that the versatile fruit can be used not only in cosmetics but also as a potential replacement for microplastics within the food, homecare and materials sectors.
“As a leading multinational supplier of avocados and a range of fresh vegetables and fruit we are committed to protecting precious water resources, reducing waste and becoming ‘lifetime carbon neutral’ by 2049, the 100-year anniversary of the establishment of our first farm in South Africa,” said Johnathan Sutton, Group Safety & Environmental Executive at Westfalia Fruit.
