How we turn avocado waste avocado into energy!

Olivado’s CEO explains how their pioneering biogas plants in Africa came about and their importance to the New Zealand farming industry.

As the world’s largest producer of extra virgin avocado oil, we pride ourselves on our quality, sustainability practices and commitment to our workers.

Olivado work hard to leave communities and environment in a better state than when we started.  We are already carbon neutral and have made a commitment to be carbon positive by 2024.

In the following clip, Sarah Perriam talks to Olivado CEO Gary Hannam on her show Sarah’s Country, where Gary explains how we are leading the way in the avocado industry with our pioneering approach to regeneration, sustainability and utilising all waste to energy.

Transcript of the interview:

Sarah:

All of our stories on our Change Maker show are incredibly inspiring and this is absolutely no doubt similar for our next guest. This company has built one of the biggest biogas plants in Africa, helping turn the waste product from our factories in the likes of avocado, – and leading into potentially dairy waste – into what will be biogas and fertilizer.

They’re leading the way in the avocado industry with their approach to regeneration, sustainability and utilizing all that waste to turn into energy. Their team there works hard to leave the communities and environment in a better state than when they started in Kenya. Olivado is carbon neutral now and has made a commitment to be carbon positive by 2024.

Gary Hannam, Olivado’s Chief Executive joins us now here on Sarah’s Country.

“Gary, a beautiful backdrop there – I believe you’re north of Oamaru in Riverstone Kitchen, what takes you on the road today?”

Gary:

Oh, we’ve been down visiting friends down in Wanaka and we’re about to go up and visit a dairy farm just north of here.

Sarah:

Fantastic, we will get into how the technology you’ve utilized in the avocado industry is going to work with dairy waste, but could you give us a bit of a background into your personal journey into getting to a point of having the biggest biogas plants in Africa?

Gary:

We started in Kenya in 2007 and we had a temporary factory there and when we went to build our permanent factory, I really wanted a way to use the waste because we take say 15% of the oil out of an avocado and the rest of it is waste, which isn’t a very good commercial outcome really. So I wanted to look at other ways of doing this and my son who was with me in Africa at the time suggested: “Dad why don’t we think of biogas?”

Sarah:

And was it connected to the communities in Africa and finding a way for them to progress and to have a source of energy that was sustainable as well?

Gary:

Well, it was actually for us for the factory, because out in Africa and in the backwoods of Africa, you know the power supply isn’t regular so we wanted to find a way other than having diesel generators.

Sarah:

And what is the process involved in turning waste into biogas and obviously capturing the methane to turn it into electricity?

Gary:

Well, we were starting from scratch because there was no research in the world that showed how you could turn avocado waste into methane, or even if it would make good methane. So we had a two-year research project which we did in-house in Kenya and came up and decided well yes, it does make good methane, and so then it was what sort of plant would we build. So we had to design that as well so it really was you know our green fields, start from scratch!

Sarah:

What’s your investment here in New Zealand’s avocado industry Gary and taking that technology forward?

Gary:

Well it’s about a year ago we realized we should really build a new factory in Kerikeri, and because the number of avocados being grown in the far north is much higher now, in fact we’ll double our production in the next five years because of these new plantings, having a biogas plant here for the avocado waste is a very good idea as well.

I come from a dairy farming background and so I thought why don’t we look at that for the dairy industry. So now we’re combining with the first plant for avocado and we’ll have two plants to trial on dairy farms – to use the dairy waste of feedlots.

Sarah:

And there’s a NAFA innovation and enterprise park that you’ve recently announced the further innovation to do so, what’s the government’s support and involvement in such a project?

Gary:

Well the Far North Holdings, which is the commercial arm of the district council, is the mover and shaker behind this innovation park and we’re one of the cornerstone companies that’s moving into it, so the government’s involvement is that the regional development fund that was set up a little while ago is funding the infrastructure there.

Sarah:

It’s absolutely fantastic. What does the future look like for this type of technology? Do you believe for both our horticulture and dairy waste in this country?

Gary:

Well, I think it’s an essential part of going forward. In the past, the dairy industry has been a major contributor to New Zealand’s economy and it’s not that one should sit back and say “well you know we have to scale back the dairy industry”, because innovations like this mean that we can become world leaders in terms of creating a circular economy for the dairy industry.

And moving forward and having a competitive advantage overseas for our products and this is what we’ve done in avocado, and this is what we know we can do for the dairy industry.

Sarah:

Gary, thank you so much and it’s just incredible that we’re speaking to you on this particular show, we’ve just heard from Fraser, a part of the dairy NZ climate change ambassador, in terms of reducing methane in the dairy industry and yet we have a technology here where we can work on utilizing it and turning it into to biogas. So oh goodness, I’m super inspired and I’m sure our viewers and listeners will be as well, around this massive sustainability project that has been trialled in Africa and now is heading to Northland and to Kirikiri.

Gary thank you very much for taking the time to join us on Sarah’s country.

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Sustainability

Olivado are leading the way in the avocado industry with our approach to regeneration, sustainability and utilising all waste to energy. We work hard to leave our communities and environment in a better state than when we started. We are carbon neutral now and we have made a commitment to be carbon positive by 2022. Shop with us and do your part for the planet.