Most people don’t realize that creating sweet, delicious chocolate is a waste-intensive process. In the UK, 76 percent of the cocoa bean is discarded in the process, resulting in about 10 metric tons of cocoa husk waste for every single metric ton of dry cocoa bean produced.
In their quest for affordable and eco-friendly new chocolate packaging solutions, paper maker James Cropper and chocolate maker Barry Callebaut have collaborated to create a cocoa-husk paper–an innovative way to upcycle a material that might otherwise have ended up in the landfill.
“The finished product, predominantly made up of unbleached cellulose fibre from sustainable crops, features a 10% cocoa husk content, with the cocoa waste materials being delivered to the mill in pulpable bags, meaning they can be incorporated into the paper-making process without the need for any additional processing,” reports Packaging Europe.
Callebaut says he was looking for a way to reduce his 168 year-old chocolate mill’s environmental footprint, starting with the packaging. Using a substance previously considered waste helps the company to close the loop, save money, and increases use of a biodegradable material.
According to Environmental Leader, the sustainable paper made from chocolate waste is now in production and certified for use in the food supply chain, paving the way for millions of chocolate bars to be wrapped and sold in the stuff of their creation
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