London’s circular economy week

Norwegian life sciences companies are finding new ways to extract useful compounds from marine residual materials, leading to innovations in health, medicine and food production while building a blue circular economy.  In terms of mass, 35 per cent of the harvest from fisheries and fish farms is residual materials. These are biological “leftovers” after the primary product has been extracted – for example, skin, guts, heads and bones from fish and shells from shellfish.  “Both aquaculture and pelagic fisheries create a high volume of residual material,” explains Hanne Mette Dyrlie Kristensen, CEO of The Life Science Cluster.  “For example, only about two thirds of a salmon’s weight can be sold as fillets. The question is: What do we do with the rest? Do we throw it back into the ocean, sell it as pet food, or can we find new, higher value use for it?”   The Life Science Cluster is a network for companies and organisations in industries for which the life sciences are key. The cluster promotes the development of new technology and higher value products in health, medicine, and the marine, agriculture and forestry sectors. This includes the use of marine residuals, which contain proteins, oils and other compounds that can be extracted and made into valuable products.  Norwegian companies are already adept at not letting marine residuals go to waste. Approximately 82 per cent of the harvest from Norwegian fisheries and fish farms is utilised in one way or another. Nevertheless, Kristensen would like to see an even higher percentage.  “We want to increase the use of marine residuals because it is a way of ensuring sustainable and circular resource use. Making sure to use every ounce we harvest is also a way of showing respect for marine life.”   Norway is a world leader in “blue” life science.  There are many products that can be made from marine residuals. Kristensen explains that Norwegian companies are continuously discovering untapped potential, based on synergies between industries.  “A good example is Arctic Bioscience, a company that uses herring roe to extract useful compounds for pharmaceuticals and nutritional supplements. Herring roe is a new resource in this respect; previously it has been discarded completely during the processing of herring.”