Heineken with MWD Productions Ltd

Scientists at Glyndŵr University believe they have discovered a novel way to ensure that leftovers from apples produced as a byproduct of Bulmers cider don’t go to waste – by reformulating them into  slug pellets.

The university’s Industrial Biopolymer Knowledge Transfer Centre (IBKTC) has been commissioned by Heineken, makers of Strongbow and Bulmers cider, to find new uses for apple pomace.

The firm produces 300 million litres of cider each year which leave a large volume of pomace, a combination of pips, pulp and skin which do not make it into the final product.

Apple is known to contain pectin, a naturally occurring polymer which is commonly used as a gelling agent in jams and which is also present in the pomace.

Pectins from the leftover apples will be used as a binder in slug pellets under trials conducted by the university at its laboratories in Wrexham. They will create slug pellets using a formulation which will act as a molluscide, a pesticide targeted specifically for slugs.

Molluscides are commonly used both in gardens and in agriculture. The bait is fatal to slugs but harmless to pets, birds and humans.

To complete the project, scientists at Glyndŵr’s IBKTC is working with MWD Productions Ltd, exploiting Intellectual Property (IP) owned by the firm. This IP was developed 15 years ago with Bangor and Cardiff universities whilst undertaking a European funded project. This project will focus on commercialising the IP. MWD is a spin-off company which does not trade and exists as a consortia of IP owners who have patented technology.

Anna Davies, technology translator at Glyndŵr University, said: “It’s great to see industry taking the initiative to find uses for their waste products. This project has great potential to produce effective environmentally friendly slug pellets from a fully organic source. We are currently about halfway through the project and are currently submitting samples for field trials.”

A number of formulations using the pectins from the apple pomace will be developed by Glyndŵr’s scientists as part of field trials. These will be synthesised under different conditions to give a range of pellets.

The sample pellets created will be sent to i2L research, an independent contract research company based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne  for lab scale field trials. The pellets will be tested in the company’s labs to find the most effective batch.

Using i2L’s results, Glyndŵr University will make a larger batch of the pellets for a larger scale field trial to prove their effectiveness on slugs in natural conditions.

Kylee Goode, sustainability research engineer for Heineken, said the commissioned work formed an important part of the company’s commitment to sustainability.

She said: “We feel as global leaders in our field it is important to invest in research activities that can make our cider operations more sustainable and add value to our process. This work, if successful, will not only benefit our company but will produce an environmentally-friendly slug bait that is much safer than conventional metaldehyde pellets and other commercially available baits.”

Bulmers, part of the Heineken group, has been making cider in Hereford since 1887, and is the largest cider maker in the world. Making the renowned brands Bulmers, Strongbow, Jaques and Scrumpy Jack

The IBKTC at Glyndŵr University specialises in strategic and applied research, often in collaboration with industry, to find novel uses and applications for products using its expertise in the field of polymer and colloid chemistry.