Project overview
Through this project, GreenCape promoted investments in green technologies, processes and systems in the Western Cape. Our overall goals were to unlock the potential of bio-based resources and to ‘green’ agricultural value chains.
The RP project is the successor of the Regional Resource Flow Model (RRFM) project (2013-15). It built on our insights from that project about resource efficiency in key sectors of the Western Cape economy – in particular on the importance of the agri-processing sector for economic growth and job creation.
Objectives
The RP project had three objectives:
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To identify the resource-based challenges and economically-viable opportunities for resource efficiency in key agri-processing sectors, including exploring waste beneficiation within a specific sub-sector with high potential. Based on its scale and significance to the economy, fruit processing was selected as the focus area for this objective.
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To unlock the key opportunities in collaboration with GreenCape’s sector desks, specifically those opportunities that enhance productivity and competitiveness.
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To disseminate information on these opportunities, their benefits and enablers to key stakeholders who could help influence influence or effect their realisation including Western Cape Government, specifically the Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT) and Department of Agriculture (DoA), as well as industry associations and companies.
Activities and outputs
A screening process was used to identify the key resource productivity opportunities within agri-processing. The process comprised of:
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Stakeholder engagement to assess the resource-based challenges and opportunities for key agri-processing sectors.
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Prioritising opportunities based on the size of the opportunity and ease of influence (i.e. whether they align with the mandate and key implementation support capabilities of GreenCape).
Key opportunities for agri-processing were identified to be renewable energy (specifically solar) and value-add to waste. Three business cases, in line with these focus areas, were developed to demonstrate the potential impact of green technology opportunities and actively drive the uptake within the sector (see below).
Key reading
- Resource Productivity project report: Executive summary
- Business case: Solar photovoltaics (PV) for pack houses
- Business case: Bioconversion of organic waste into high-value insect protein for animal feeds
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Business case: Solar thermal for industrial-scale heating in agri-processing