Use coconuts to fuel circular economies

Come summer, what citizens look forward to is drinking cool, fresh, tender coconut water from street vendors. As enticing as it is on hot summer days, it’s not a pretty sight to see the discarded husk lying around on the wayside.

In Bengaluru itself, it is estimated that nearly 300 tonnes of coconut shells go to waste every day. Last year, there were reports of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)’s Solid Waste Management (SWM) cell planning to set up a 200-tonne per day (TPD) plant to process these coconut shells. The plant operating at Freedom Park presently has a smaller capacity of 40 TPD. It is estimated that 85 per cent of the some 50 billion coconuts grown worldwide are discarded, most of which sadly end up in landfills.

Also Read | Season’s woes: Coconut shells trigger waste crises in the summer

Sad because coconut husk is a gold mine. Several environmentally friendly by-products can be processed from this; two of the more popular ones are cocopeat and coir, both in high demand worldwide.

To ensure sustainable living, a circular economy is required. The UNCTAD states, “A circular economy entails markets that give incentives to reusing products rather than scrapping them and then extracting
new resources. In such an economy, all forms of waste are returned to the economy or used more efficiently.”

Cocopeat is increasingly seen as a soil alternative in new farming technologies like vertical and polyhouse farming. It has a high antimicrobial and water retention capability and helps retain and release much-needed nutrients for plants. It can be used in harsh climates as a soil alternative. For instance, it helps desert climates like the Gulf to reduce their dependence on imported soil. Interestingly, Kerala and Tamil Nadu account for the lion’s share of this market. Transparency Market Research (TMR) has estimated the worldwide demand for cocopeat to grow by 4.4 per cent from 2021 to 2031 and reach a value of $3.8 billion by 2031.

Another popular by-product from coconut husk is coir. According to a recent report in expertmarketresearch.com, the global coir market, which was valued at $304.8 million in 2020, is expected to grow at 8.1 per cent from 2023 to 2028 and reach $485.9 million by 2026. Coir is anti-fungal in nature and allows for better water retention, higher air porosity, and durability. It is used to make rugs, doormats, plant basket liners, upholstery stuffing, ropes, and grow bags for horticulture and agriculture.

A lot of research and development has been going on worldwide to enable farmers to move from traditional farming, with its attendant risks of climate change, space constraints, vagaries of nature, reduced water supply, and nuisance from pests, to the more lucrative vertical and polyhouse farming. Vertical farming is considered the future of agriculture and is already being adopted in several countries, including India. The yield has a low turnaround time from farm to plate, is of better quality, and can be produced in higher quantities.

Mostly soil-free, pesticide-free, and fertiliser-free, vertical farming allows farmers to grow organic leafy micro-greens, tomatoes, exotic salad vegetables, and herbs--all of which are in high demand today. This in turn has both physical and online grocers looking for a steady supply of quality fresh stock from farmers.

What is interesting is that these vertical farms can be located anywhere, in high-rise buildings or even on small one-acre farms. In polyhouse farming, a cheaper alternative to the greenhouse, crops are covered by transparent polyethene sheets and supplied nutrients dissolved in water by drip irrigation.

Both vertical and polyhouse farming are usually adopted together. In a recent report, the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimated that food production would become a challenge for India with our growing population and that vertical farms could very well be an alternative as we battle food challenge. Many of the state governments in the country are offering subsidies to growers opting for vertical farming. Kerala is even offering a
75 per cent subsidy.

Given these facts about how important the unassuming coconut husk is to new-age farming, why are we wasting this natural resource and allowing it to go to landfills?

As a start, the BBMP must speed up the setting up of higher capacity processing plants to turn the waste coconut husk into valuable cocopeat and coir. To quote UNCTAD, “the goods of today are the resources of tomorrow at yesterday’s resource prices.”

(The writer is a journalist and author.)