Producing innovative products based on the grape seeds as a winery by product

At a critical time for both the economy and the environment the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals will contribute to the achievement of a better and more sustainable future for all. The Circular Economy model holds particular promise for achieving multiple SDGs, since it presents solutions to some of the world’s most pressing crosscutting sustainable development challenges. It is an economy in which waste and pollution do not exist by design, products and materials are kept in use, and natural systems are regenerated.
In this context, Circular Economy concept can be implemented in the vinification process. A large volume of winery byproducts remain unexploited every year on an international level, such as grape pomace, grape seeds, grape seed flour and grape seed oil. Specifically, grape pomace, being the main waste in the wine industry, consists of skin residues, broken cells with pulp remains, stalks and grape seeds. Grape pomace could be competitive with other typical agroindustrial wastes.
Moreover, grape seeds, which remain after the production of wine, can have alternative usages in order to produce value-added products through innovative technologies in food industry, cosmetology, as well as in medicine. Grape seed oil and grape seed flour have compounds with beneficial health effect, allowing the valorization of winery byproducts.
The utilization of winery by products provides alternative solutions to diminish wineries’ environmental impact, introducing additional sources of income, creating innovative products, new jobs and business opportunities and helps to adopt the circular economy model that contributes to the SDG’s.