►  SUGAR BEET & SUSTAINABILITY

       - Horizon 2020 research project          AgroCycle

       - The EU Beet Sugar Sustainability           Partnership

       - Integrative Sustainability           analysis of industrial Sugar          production

         - Unbeatable beet!

        - Sugar Beet: a model of

          Sustainability

www.agrocycle.eu          agrocycle@ucd.ie        twitter: @Agrocycle_EU

              ► AGROCYCLE

CIBE participates in AgroCycle, an €8 million Horizon 2020 research project led by the UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering (Dublin) and involving a consortium of 26 partners from the EU including CIBE, China and Hong Kong, to create a protocol for the implementation of the ‘circular economy’ across the agri-food sector.

“The project takes a holistic approach to understanding and addressing how to make best use of the full range of waste streams associated with the agri-food industry. It will deliver the AgroCycle Protocol, a blueprint for achieving sustainable agri-food waste valorisation.”

Full title: Sustainable techno-economic solutions for the agricultural value chain

Topic: Ensuring sustainable use of agricultural waste, co-products and by-products

              ► JUNE 2016: LAUNCH OF THE PROJECT

The project started in June 2016 and will end in May 2019.

 The AgroCycle project will contribute to setting policy direction in the agri-food sector at EU level, and envisages significant global impact in the sector.

The ‘circular economy’ is based on utilising waste streams as feedstock for new businesses, such as energy and biopharma, or replacing mineral fertilisers with nutrients extracted from agricultural wastes
 
“The European Commission recognises how vitally important it is to invest in agri-food research and innovation,” said Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, who launched the project at the inaugural meeting of the AgroCycle consortium at UCD.
 
“There is now broad agreement that the sector must become smarter, leaner and greener.”

              ► CIBE'S CONTRIBUTION

CIBE’s contribution is primarily informative, as Europe’s beet sugar sector has a lot of practical experience in the valorization of agricultural co-products and by-products. The Beet Sugar sector thus already applies the principles of the circular economy and waste reduction, anticipating and leading the way towards higher resource efficiency and waste elimination.