Holla-Fresh Herbs and Produce: Circular Economy in Action in SA (2019)

The driver The need to replace an old, inefficient, fossil-fuelled boiler used to heat glasshouses. The catalyst Green Industries SA support and encouragement to investigate bioenergy options. The outcomes A low-cost, reliable, carbon negative source of energy with an expected simple payback of 4-6 years. The option to enhance Holla-Fresh herb production in the future. A new partnership with local composter BioGro enabling it to explore potentially lucrative biochar production. Horticulture company Holla-Fresh is determined to become even more efficient and sustainable, and the impact is being felt beyond the boundaries of its Tantanoola property in the state’s temperate South East. In a great example of the circular economy in action, it has embraced innovation, created opportunities for two other companies (one local), provided a boost for the regional economy, inspired new research, and laid the groundwork to massively reduce its carbon footprint and bring tangible results for its business. “There will be two benefits for us when things are fully commissioned,” said Managing Director Ian Lines. “There will be a very large financial benefit, a big cut in our costs, and we will actually be carbon negative –taking more carbon out of the atmosphere than we produce. “That will be a big selling point for us. For every 12 months of the new energy source up and going, not only will we be carbon neutral in that year but we will actually be a carbon-sink by also replacing two years of carbon that we had previously put into the atmosphere under our old normal operations.” Over the past 25 years, family-owned Holla-Fresh has grown to become a leading supplier of culinary herbs to the nation’s supermarkets, all of them grown hydroponically under glass.