Ashleigh Farms Limited are successful pig rearers for the pork meat industry. Currently they own over 1,500 sows that produce a combined total of 37,000 pigs per year. The pig farming industry is significant across Europe and it is increasingly becoming more and more difficult for pig farmers to be profitable and competitive. There are numerous legislations that are inhibiting the ability for pig farmers to prosper. Regulations and targets in place to control pollution and contamination are leaving pig farmers with less and less economical use for pig slurry. Pig herds are constantly growing and the slurry amounts are quickly reaching a crisis point. In order to improve margins and remain in business pig farmers require an innovative solution. We have developed a novel and innovative microwave pre-treatment technology that increases the compatibility of pig slurry for anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion of pig slurry is currently economically unviable as there is a requirement to add organic carbon sources in the ratio of 8:1. The microwave pre-treatment process converts hard carbon in the slurry, which cannot be digested by bacteria, into soluble carbon, thus increasing the total bio-available carbon in the slurry and improving the Carbon:Nitrogen ratio. Therefore the costs of using AD with pig slurry, are extremely high. Our innovative pre-treatment technology removes the need to add organic material and increases the biogas yield from slurry by 20%. This therefore provides farmers with a realistic solution to deal with the ever-growing amounts of slurry produced. With a payback of 4 years, our biowave system provides an environmentally-friendly and cost-effective method for pig slurry treatment that eases farmers’ legislative burdens. It helps reduce energy costs and helps to achieve the EU goal of sourcing 20% of all energy consumed from renewable energy.

Agro2Circular (A2C) project is focused on the implementation of the first territorial systemic solution for the upcycling of most relevant residues in the agrifood sector (fruits& vegetables and plastic multilayers) into high added value products, powered by a digital tool and constructed upon a systemic approach with high replicable/scalable potential. Through this solution, A2C will face important industrial, economic & social challenges in the agrifood sector: 1) The fruits & vegetables (F&V) are the group of major contribution to food waste along the food supply chain rising up to > 40% of waste, and are as excellent source of natural bioactives. However, these F&V wastes are not exploited. A2C will valorise them by green routes to obtain these bioactives for the production of nutraceuticals, functional foods, and cosmetics. 3) Multilayer plastic films are widely used as industrial packaging for the protection of food and agriculture for crops due to their unique barrier properties. However, there is a lack of sorting and recycling technologies for an economic and environmentally sustainable valorisation of these multilayer structures. A2C will develop the first recycling value chain for post-industrial multilayer films based on a synergistic approach combining innovative sorting, physical delamination, enzymatic depolymerisation, decontamination & mechanical recycling. 3) There is a lack of digitalisation in the agrifood sector. A2C will implement a Data Integration System (DIS) as a digital tool for ensuring traceability and as Predictive Decision Tool in the agrifood sector. A2C will be a demonstrated in the Regi?n de Murcia (Spain) and replicable systemic solution throughout Europe for the territorial deployment of the circular economy.