Julien Lesage helps companies to recover their waste.
From 30 to 50% of agricultural production is thrown away at the time of its industrial transformation, according to the evaluation carried out in the field by the phytochemist Julien lesage, who created the start-up Hubcycle to source them and find new outlets for them. “There are immense deposits of raw material there », he jubilates. In one year, helped by four engineers, this former French archery champion has identified nearly 200 companies where to search the trash cans to find treasures.
For example, at a fruit juice producer, he collects orange peels which he transforms into essential oil, which is popular in the cosmetics industry. It does the same with the skin of the cocoa beans, transformed into a natural flavor, and the flax fiber from the pressing of the oil, which can be used as a thickener. Even more surprising: the chickpea cooking water, which he made a very competitive organic and vegan egg white substitute.
Transforming what industrialists throw away is not easy. ”Our expertise includes the analysis of molecules of interest, their extraction, conservation, traceability, quality and prospecting for outlets ”, explains Julien Lesage. The market is reactive. Among its first clients are the Schweppes-Orangina, L’Oréal, Yves Rocher or Givaudan groups.
Spoken Languages: French, English
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