4,500,000 tons of pineapple plant residues
occur in Costa Rica on an area of 400,000 ha annually.
Costa Rica is world market leader in pineapple export and that poses huge challenges for the industry. On an area of 40,000 hectares in Costa Rica, 3.4 million tons of pineapples are grown annually.
In Costa Rica alone occurs annually 4.5 million tons pineapple plant residues, which is a big ecological and economic problem. Due to their natural habits, the plant remains are difficult to compost, which is why these often dried and burned with chemicals, which has a significant impact on the health of local residents and workers, as well as having a harmful effect on the environment.
the:beginnings
In 2017, a documentary about the annual disposal of thousands of tons of bananas that did not meet export standards inspired a lecturer at Leibniz University Hannover to turn to Enactus Hannover to help combat the waste. This challenge was taken up by Niklas and Merit, among others. With the original idea of extracting the pulp from the shells and producing textiles from it, the two went to Costa Rica for the first time just under a year later.
After visiting a banana plantation and talking to various locals, it quickly became clear that the problem of banana waste is already well solved there. Instead, the farmers are struggling with a completely different waste problem: pineapple plant residues.
the:future
In the future, of course, there will also be other waste materials such as bagasse or banana stincks interesting for us. Because we have big plans with more plantations, growing countries and raw materials. So that we can generate the greatest possible impact!
