Upcycling Orange for Our Signature Taste Designs

As a company we set a high bar for environmental and social sustainability and continue to embed the principles of circular design throughout our culture and value chain. One area we are re-imagining is waste. Through upcycling—creating scalable sustainable and value-added solutions by reusing products from discarded side streams—we are designing waste out of the production cycle and reaping tangible benefits.

We recently partnered with Dutch startup PeelPioneers to utilize fresh orange peels that would otherwise be discarded from supermarkets juice bars and other quick-service restaurants in the Netherlands. Orange peels are naturally rich in essential oils and cannot be composted as easily as other fruits and vegetables because of their high water content.

Thanks to PeelPioneers’ agreement with one of the largest commercial waste management companies in the Netherlands discarded fresh peels are delivered to the PeelPioneers factory within 72 hours of juicing where they are washed and treated to obtain a high-quality oil-in-water emulsion via cold extraction.

IFF uses the resulting essential oil to create signature taste designs including natural orange flavorings and extracts in IFF’s Re-Imagine Citrus Upcycled Orange product line. Utilizing circular design principles in this way helps us meet customer and consumer demand without stressing the citrus supply chain and creates a unique marketing advantage for the Re-Imagine Citrus Upcycled Orange product line one our customers can include in their own labeling and marketing outreach.

This circular design solution fully exemplifies our company vision and strategy to “do more good.”