Nestlé reported on Sept. 12 that it is in the midst of a pilot program at its UK confectionary site in York to determine if cocoa shells can be used to create a low-carbon fertilizer.
If the two-year trial is successful, the company said up to 7,000 mt of low-carbon fertilizer could be produced and offered to farmers in Nestlé’s UK wheat supply chain. It said this amount of fertilizer equates to around 25% of Nestlé’s UK’s total fertilizer use for wheat.
The cocoa shells are supplied by Cargill Inc., which processes the cocoa at the York facility to become key ingredients in products such as Kit Kat and Aero. A trial volume of cocoa shell has been processed and pelletized by Swindon-based CCm Technologies.
The trials are currently taking place on arable farms in Suffolk and Northamptonshire. Initial reports found no significant difference in fields fertilized by cocoa shell fertilizer and conventional fertilizer.