French firm aims to cut food waste through 'upcycling'

A former French archery champion has raised €15 million to start an ‘upcycling’ company, where vegetable kitchen waste is collected to be transformed into high-value ingredients. 

After passing “within €4 of bankruptcy”, Julien Lesage's Hubcycle is now thriving with a new business method.

The first model saw the company try to set up an online platform linking restaurants and food processing factories with industrialists looking for waste.

However, the new method involves buying waste directly from kitchens. 

This is then sold on to specialist factories, with the company helping market the goods they make.

Products made from the waste include natural food flavourings, spices (from recovered coriander seeds for example), flavoured flours like peanut-flavoured flour, vanilla bean powder and bilberry concentrate. 

The company also makes refined cooking oils from waste products. 

“Working together we can all create industries which use much fewer primary resources with the ‘upcycling’ ideas,” said Mr Lesage. 

The firm is now expanding, and has around 60 clients, and is on target to have sales of €7 million this year.

Read more: What are the recycling rules in France? Has something changed?