Bridgetown, Barbados, July 23, 2014 – Grenadian firm, Protein From Waste and Local Crops Inc. (PFW), has successfully won a bid to demonstrate the viability of small scale protein rendering for animal feed supplementation, using locally available organic and fuel wastes.

This was made possible through a Compete Caribbean technical assistance grant valued at USD178,020.

Compete Caribbean is a private sector development program that provides technical assistance grants and investment funding to support productive development policies, business climate reforms, clustering initiatives and Small and Medium Size Enterprise (SME) development activities in 15 Caribbean countries.

The program is jointly funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD). Projects in the OECS countries are implemented in partnership with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The project is the brainchild of James Aronson who gave birth to the PFW concept and subsequently merged it with the discovery of a technology that uses spent motor oil, one of Grenada’s most serious disposal problems, as a free fuel to make steam for rendering the protein from waste into feedstock.

Mr. Aronson explained that PFW aims at helping poor rural poultry farmers increase their profitability while at the same time helping to reduce pollution through resource recovery. PFW employs a process that converts fish offal into protein for poultry feed utilizing used motor oil to run the plant, producing as a result a reduced price poultry feed.

The PFW innovation is novel in that the project endeavors to recover the real and tangible assets from the waste that is generated and disposed of in the landfills of small developing states; especially small island nations like Grenada. “The process uses all free waste inputs including waste oil as fuel. The output is a valuable commodity on the open market but will be used in this case to assist poultry farmers to grow.”

Earlier this month donor representatives from Compete Caribbean, DFID, DFATD and CDB visited the PFW Plant in Grenada and expressed positive sentiments about the project including its ability to be easily replicated in other Caribbean jurisdictions.

Executive Director of the Compete Caribbean Program, Sylvia Dohnert said: “For Compete Caribbean, the Protein for Waste project is highly valuable in indicating how to use technology to convert organic waste into cheaper animal feed. It tackles waste management issues, while improving the livelihoods of poultry producers in Grenada. We hope to see this project replicated across the region.”

“DFID is pleased to support this innovate project through the Compete Caribbean program. The Protein from Waste facility will strengthen the poultry sector in Grenada and help farmers compete internationally. This marks the start of an exciting initiative that will improve Grenada’s economic competitiveness and growth prospects. This project reflects the UK’s strong commitment to supporting economic development in Grenada and the Caribbean as a whole,” DFID Director General Country Programmes, Joy Hutcheon said.

Meanwhile, DFATD’s First Secretary (Development) for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Anne-Marie Ready lauded the project as the type of priority Canada likes to see in the region. “The Protein from Waste project is an exemplary initiative which has potential to demonstrate positive results in Grenada and can be replicated in other communities in the Caribbean region. Innovative processes employed by the firm, in which organic waste is converted into affordable poultry feed, is an ingenious way to assist rural poultry farmers grow and become more competitive, and in the process addresses an environmental concern. This project represents a key priority for Canada in the Caribbean region.”

The Caribbean Development Bank’s Lisa Harding echoed these thoughts: “I am extremely pleased to extend congratulations to Protein from Waste and Local Crops, Inc. on the award of a grant from the Enterprise Innovation Challenge Fund. I applaud the efforts of PFW to assist poor rural poultry farmers in Grenada to increase their profitability, by lowering their key input costs, while at the same time helping to reduce pollution through resource recovery.

The necessity for a project such as this cannot be overstated given the urgent need to improve the competitiveness of the Region’s private sector. Not only does this project have the potential to positively impact on Grenada’s economic development but I am also excited about the prospects about its scalability and the potential exportability of the business model to other CDB Borrowing Member Countries”.