Westfalia Fruit, a leading avocado producer supplying retail, food service, and wholesale markets worldwide, is pioneering a revolutionary approach to sustainability by extracting natural dyes from avocado stones.
With a firm commitment to utilising 100% of the fruit, the company has developed a process that yields eight distinct shades of dye at its UK facility.
“By transforming what was once considered byproduct into a valuable resource, we’re creating sustainable solutions that benefit multiple industries,” says Andrew Mitchell, Head of Group Innovation at Westfalia. “The ability to produce eight distinct natural shades while maintaining our commitment to use the entire fruit demonstrates the potential of innovative thinking in sustainable agriculture.”
From Waste to Value: Developing a Sustainable Alternative to Chemical Dyes
The journey towards sustainable dye extraction began with Westfalia’s efforts to find a use for avocados unsuitable for retail sale. Rather than allowing these fruits to go to waste, the company established a UK-based value-added processing facility to convert them into guacamole, gelato, and smashed avocado. Initially, the leftover skins and stones were sent to an anaerobic digester, but Westfalia saw untapped potential in these byproducts.
“That’s where we started engaging with Efficiency Technologies to really valorise the avocado skins and stones,” explains Matthew Churchill, Global Brand Manager at Westfalia. “There are a lot of valuable minerals, starches, and fibres in those parts of the avocado that can be extracted to unlock value even further, to strive toward our ultimate goal of zero waste.”
Westfalia partnered with natural dye extraction specialist SAGES London to develop a process that isolates perseorangin, a pigment constituting around 3% of the avocado stone.
“We take the seeds and mince them down into a pulp, add water and ethanol to extract the colour, press the seed that’s been extracted to take the colour out, then evaporate the ethanol back off,” Mitchell explains. The dye is then transformed into a powder, prolonging its shelf life and enabling a colour range from light yellow to deep reddish-brown.
A Breakthrough for Fashion, Cosmetics, and Packaging
Though still in its proof-of-concept stage, the natural dyes made their debut at London Fashion Week in September 2024, showcasing their potential to rival synthetic alternatives. The dyes achieve stage four on a scale of five for colourfastness, UV resistance, and wash durability—making them a viable, eco-friendly option for the textile industry.
Beyond fabrics, Westfalia is also exploring their application in cosmetics, including hair colouring, and is in discussions with packaging leaders to integrate the dyes into sustainable product design.
“Natural dyes, natural pigments are quite rare and sought-after in industry. They really are what people are looking for as there’s a shift toward more sustainable dyes and pigments,” Churchill notes.
A Total Crop Use Strategy: From Pulp to Packaging
Westfalia’s zero-waste philosophy extends well beyond dyes. The company operates a facility in South Africa that processes non-exportable avocados into avocado oil for food and cosmetics. The byproducts from this process are returned to orchards as nutrient-rich mulch, feeding the next generation of avocado trees.
Additionally, Westfalia repurposes avocado stones as a natural exfoliant for cosmetics—offering an eco-friendly alternative to harmful microplastics. The starch and fibre content of the stones also presents opportunities in paper production and biodegradable packaging.
“We extract the fibre and starch and put it into pulp production for the punnets you put avocados in when they’re ripe and ready,” Mitchell explains. “We can put a range of 10%, and even probably go up to 30 to 40% without compromising the punnets.”
Even after extensive processing, the remaining material can be repurposed for soap production. To further close the sustainability loop, Westfalia is investigating the use of miniature anaerobic digesters to convert residual avocado waste into energy.
“It cleans the water that you’ve used as well, takes anything you’ve used in processing, then gives you clean water and energy at the end,” Mitchell says. Trials for these systems are already underway in the UK.
Scaling Up for the Future
As Westfalia refines its dye extraction process, the company is considering expansion into its European facilities.
“Ultimately, we’d want to use it everywhere that we create a level of waste, making it worthwhile to process it, particularly once we’ve established the links into the customers who want to buy it,” explains Mitchell.
Looking ahead, the company remains committed to uncovering new applications for avocado byproducts.
“We’ve got these developments here, but something else might come along that we can use the skins and stones for, and develop that as well,” says Mitchell. “There’s a lot of opportunity in using this product, so we’re hoping that we can continue to improve it.”
Through its pioneering approach, Westfalia Fruit is proving that sustainability and innovation can go hand in hand—unlocking new value from what was once considered waste and setting a new standard for the food industry.
