Meet the NSW manufacturer turning agricultural waste into spice blends and baking mixes

An Australian manufacturer that turns agricultural byproducts into new consumer products and high-value ingredients has launched its first products in the Hunter Valley.

New South Wales-based Extracta, which was formed in 2020, uses agricultural waste like skins and seeds from grape marc, sugarcane husk and orange peel, after juicing.

Once the high-value ingredients have been created, they are then either on-sold to other industries such as nutraceutical, food and cosmetic manufacturers or sold B2B through Extracta’s distributors.

Now, ingredients from discarded grape marc have been used for Extracta’s first Hunter Valley products: a consumer range of spice blends and baking mixes.

The products will be marketed under the brand name Devine Connoisseur and sold in specialty retail outlets in the Hunter Valley, including the two outlets of the Smelly Cheese Shop, Tintilla Estate and The Store Pokolbin.

The main ingredients used in these products are by-products of Extracta’s upcycled elements from grape marc that is being produced at Tamburlaine Winery.  

Extracta CEO Rod Lewis says the new products are just the start for Extracta, which has plans to upcycle many types of agricultural waste.

“Extracta’s initial goal with the Devine Connoisseur products is to improve the visibility of the company and to begin trading, rather than expect a significant revenue stream in the immediate term,” he told SmartCompany. 

“Launching the first products will also allow Extracta to test the business commercially, so when sales increase and larger wholesale orders are fulfilled the business is ready”.

The Devine Connoisseur range. Source: supplied.

Selling the new products locally in the Hunter Valley makes sense, says Lewis, as they contain grape skins and seeds from the region which would have otherwise ended up in landfill.

“This saves winemakers money because they won’t have to pay to dispose of waste and benefits the environment by diverting agricultural surplus from landfill,” he explains. 

“There are other companies who use agricultural waste like grape marc, but unlike most others, we will be utilising 100 per cent of waste rather than just one element. We will also use the same factory to process other waste streams which gives us economies of scale.”

Value from waste

Extracta, which has four staff members but works with other business partners for production and sales, sees further opportunities beyond extracting ingredients from the waste of grape marc, sugar cane and citrus, including using the waste from mangoes, avocadoes, stone fruits, watermelons, soy and berries.

Lewis says because Extracta is utilising 100% of agricultural waste, it is, in effect, extracting value from waste. 

“This saves agricultural producers money because they don’t send waste to landfill and benefits the environment by diverting agricultural waste from landfill, [as] 75 per cent of food waste happens before the supermarket,” he says.

The growing company is also turning the waste products into raw materials for complementary medicines, including those made by its sister company MediKane. In fact, Extracta was originally established to supply sugar cane fibre to MediKane.

Once Extracta is in full-scale production, the main focus will be on making wholesale products like sugarcane husk and pectin but as a prelude, the company has developed its Hunter Valley consumer range.

Extracta already has a signed contract in place with its sister company MediKane to supply sugarcane husk and production will begin in early 2023. Pectin production will also start next year.