Finding value in all parts of the value chain
In the Mowi 2020 annual report Mowi Nutrition and our history was presented, read about it here.
This article is from the Mowi ASA 2020 annual report (link).
We have long embraced the concept of circularity at Mowi, understanding the importance of keeping materials at the highest possible value along the value chain and identifying new markets for waste products.
It is over 25 years since we first started to produce salmon oil in Norway and since 2009 we have also been making salmon meal from our by-products. In 2020, Mowi recaptured ~14 000 tonnes of fish oil from our Norwegian operations, which had initially used ~34 000 tonnes.
With the predominant use for salmon oil and salmon meal destined for fish feed and pet food, we are using the inherent nutritional value from our salmon to enhance the nutrition of other species throughout their lifecycle, be it other fish, piglets or domestic pets. 2021 looks set to be a key milestone for Mowi Nutrition and our ability to upcycle our salmon by-products thanks to a new plant in Poland which will be operational before the end of the year.
The new plant in Goleniow will have the capacity to process six tonnes of raw material an hour. Not only will it take all of our byproducts from our processing facilities in Poland, but it will also be able to process waste from our sites in Belgium and France or even from other companies like in Norway. As with our blueprint from our long-standing successful operations in Norway, the raw materials will be kept fresh until being processed at the plant in Poland.
This additional capacity will be a significant step in our sustainability action plan to lead the Blue Revolution. This efficiency will help to reduce our environmental footprint even further, aligned to the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goal (SDG) to “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”.
rFIFO
Our progress in circularity and being able to reuse the by-products from our business has also allowed us to redefine the Fish In-Fish Out (FIFO) ratio which is used to compare wild fish inputs with farmed fish outputs. Thus, we now have a RecaptureFIFO or rFIFO metric that also takes into account the reuse of fish oil and fish meal.
By implementing the fourth R across the group, our aim is to keep giving back into the global fund of marine ingredients and to continue to do more and better with less.
