Agriculture and Environment: Orange Juice

Better Management Practices: Processing Wastes

In the United States and Brazil, methods have been devised to grind the waste from orange juice production so that it can be incorporated into animal feeds.

It is, in fact, for this reason alone that Florida has long been one of the states with the most beef cattle finished in feeder lot operations in the United States.

Waste processing programs at Tico Fruit
Such waste processing programs are not limited to the United States, however. The Tico Fruit processing plant in Costa Rica is the most advanced in all of Latin America. It produces feed pellets from its orange waste that are sold to the cattle industry.

What was a potential waste problem and a disposal cost is instead a stream of income for the company and a useful product for neighboring farmers. The operation, in fact, produces a net revenue stream for the business and has a positive impact on the bottom line. In Belize, by contrast, peels from orange juice production are still a major waste problem.

Orange pulp and essential oils?
Aside from converting pulp to animal feed or using it as organic fertiliser amendments, it can also be used as a source for essential oils that have high commercial value as fragrances and flavourings. Pectin, which is important in commercial production of jams and jellies, can also be extracted from the pulp.

And the seeds are helpful too!
The orange juice industry also produces seeds that contain antibacterial and fungicidal properties and so can be used to manufacture innovative new pesticides for many crops. The isolation and production of these valuable by-products is now an increasing part of the industry and is integrated into the processing system in such producing countries as the United States and Brazil.

Unfortunately, the production of some of these byproducts requires significant investments and/or scales to be profitable. This could tend to make larger processing companies more financially viable than small ones. Still, as all these ways suggest, organic waste can be minimised.