When it comes to crafting or reformulating products for greater sustainability, developers and manufacturers are faced with considerations that go beyond whether or not the agriculture and manufacturing processes involved are ecologically sound and resource-controlled. Sustainability is a consideration across the entire chain of an ingredient, from the agriculture to the processing to the use in manufacturing. And upcycling is a key link in that chain.
Upcycling involves more than just making use of some previously unusable parts of certain ingredients, such as produce or grains, etc. Questions to consider are, is the unused portion (or “ugly portion”) better suited and more economically advantageous as animal feed? Or is the planned usage for it the best usage? Consider an apple that is too small or too misshapen for retail display. Is it better upcycled for juice and the pulp for animal feed? Or should it be but up into fruit bits? Or dried as a powder for flavoring or in some beverage or bakery mix?