The Vanilla Bean Revolution: Crafting a Sustainable Future

My name is Leo Mizuno and I am a junior who attends Phillips Exeter Academy. I am a motivated student-athlete and a member of the varsity swim and water polo team at my school. At school, I am the Director of Advertising for my school newspaper, the Head of Japan American Society, and a member of the Asian Advisory Board. I am passionate about business and environmental studies and want to contribute to making the earth more sustainable. 

Vanilla is one of the most popular flavors worldwide. Its market size is expected to grow from USD 958.57 million in 2023 to USD 1,416.95 million by 2028. This delicate rich flavor is used in almost every single sweet you can think of. It is one of the most expensive resources on earth. One gram of vanilla is worth more than a gram of silver.  The root of this invaluable product comes directly from Madagascar. 80% of the world's vanilla is grown in Madagascar.

Every year these adept farmers work to produce vanilla beans in substantial quantity and quality. The end product is a fermented and dried black vanilla bean. This product is exported worldwide and transformed into extracts and flavors used in desserts.

Image of a bundle of vanilla beans 

However, when processing the beans into an essence, a big problem lies in the vanilla flavoring industry. After using the inside contents of the vanilla bean, the vanilla pod, which makes up the majority of the physical shape of the vanilla, is disposed of. This contributes to a larger carbon footprint because all of the vanilla beans will need to be incinerated. Mikoyakosho, a flavor manufacturing business in Tokyo, Japan disposes of 2 tons of trash worth of Vanilla beans yearly. This is only from one company in Japan but think about how many vanilla beans are thrown away globally. Not only is this wasteful of such a precious item cultivated from hard work, disposing of the empty shells costs extra money for a company. Mikoyakoshos 2 tons of Vanilla cost roughly 1000 dollars to dispose of.  A multitude of problems arose from this one action. Disposing of vanilla shells has contributed to global warming and the unsustainability of businesses financially and environmentally. 

Recycle Vanilla strives to create sustainable practices for the production and manufacturing of vanilla to have a measurable impact to make the world more sustainable. To do this we have researched an innovative way to reduce vanilla bean waste by using it as chicken feed instead of disposing of it. Initially, I thought the vanilla shells could be used to create vegan leather. Vegan leather has recently gained some popularity from materials like pineapple leaves, apple peels, and other fruit wastes. Vanilla has a similar material texture as these fruits so I researched online if it could be used to create leather. I reached out to a vegan leather corporation called PEEL Lab and sent them a sample of a vanilla bean. They tested the Vanilla bean and discovered that it cannot be produced into vegan leather. Vegan leather manufacturing is an intricate process that involves cutting and cleaning the leaves, mashing them up, and mixing in chemicals to form a leather-like texture. However, vanilla has a coarse texture that doesn’t allow it to be mashed up properly impeding the process of a vegan leather creation. 

Considering that vegan leather did not seem like a viable solution at the moment, I researched alternative ways to recycle the leftover vanilla scraps. One possible solution I dug deep into was mixing the vanilla scraps into feed for animals such as chickens and cows. Cacao, a similar plant to vanilla used in sweets for a chocolate flavor, was experimented with by being used in animal feed. More specifically the feed of dairy goats rabbits, and chickens. In the multiple studies conducted with the cocoa bean shells, the overall results were a slight improvement in the health of the animals. For the dairy goats, the milk was a higher quality with more fatty acids. From this information, I was curious to see if the vanilla bean shells could be used in a similar study. I searched online but it seemed like this experiment had never been done before. Using vanilla bean shells as a component of animal feed was a worthy experiment. 

First, because there was no prior information on the topic I found the contact of a professor in Agriculture and Technology at The University of Tokyo specializing in cow health. Professor Satoshi Sugimura. I reached out to him and asked about the possibility of using the vanilla bean shells as a source of animal feed or if he had any alternative ideas on how to recycle them. He responded that it might be risky to include vanilla bean shells in the feed without any detailed research. However, testing this on cows or chickens could be a possibility. Additionally, he said that farmers producing fertilizer made from cattle compost face difficulty when working, from the stench of cow manure. Vanilla could be mixed in with the fertilizer as its aromatic essence can counteract the smell of manure. 

Both seemed like possible solutions but I decided to focus on the idea of animal feed. After reaching out to a couple of local farms in Japan, Saito Chicken Farm replied to me and showed interest in my potential experiment. This farm is located in the Miyagi prefecture of Japan where they keep 25,000 hens. I send the farmers the nutritional information of the vanilla bean shells to see the possible benefits of mixing it in with the feed. 

The farm owner agreed to feed 40% of the chickens on his farm (10,000 hens) the feed containing a small percentage of vanilla bean shells. The ratio of vanilla in the total feed was 10kg of vanilla for every 1 ton of feed. Only 1%. We started with a small percentage because we were not sure of what the results would be. If they were positive we would gradually increase the amount of vanilla bean shells. 1% may seem like an insignificant amount but it is a sufficient amount to see results in the chicken without any health risks. The experimental group contained the vanilla bean shells, and the control group had the normal feed which was the same as the experimental group excluding the vanilla bean shells. The vanilla bean shells were mixed in with the feed after being cut into small chunks to make it easier for the hens to eat. 

I hypothesised that the eggs laid by the experimental group would be of higher quality compared to the eggs of the control group. I hypothesized this because the vanilla bean shells contain vanillin which could be a source of nutrition. Vanillin is known to have antioxidant properties and anti-inflammatory properties. After 3 weeks of the hens consistently eating their new diets, the feed will start to impact the hens and the results will be examined. From our results, we saw that the Hens were being impacted by the vanilla. The vanilla reduced the gaminess of smell in the eggs of the chicken.

The project follows the REUSE Framework, emphasizing Recycling, Understanding the impact of waste minimization, Encouraging agricultural circulation, and Educating the community about sustainable vanilla practices. This comprehensive approach not only seeks to address the immediate issue of waste but also to foster long-term sustainable practices within the industry.

Our journey is structured into five phases spanning from 2023 to 2027. It began with extensive research into potential recycling methods, followed by a pivotal partnership with Mikoyakosho and the Saito poultry farm to test our findings. The positive impact on the chickens confirmed our hypothesis, leading us to expand our outreach to Madagascar, the heart of the world’s vanilla production. There, our practices not only began to transform local agriculture but also facilitated community development through the creation of a library funded by the profits from selling the repurposed vanilla pods.

Recycle Vanilla proudly aligns with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Zero Hunger (SDG #2), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG #12), and Life on Land (SDG #15). By converting waste into a resource, we contribute to food security, sustainable production patterns, and the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems.

To date, our project has achieved remarkable milestones: educating four farms in Madagascar, donating 1,000 books from profits, and repurposing 360 kgs of vanilla, thereby feeding 10,000 hens with vanilla-mixed fodder. These achievements not only showcase the feasibility of our approach but also its tangible benefits to both agriculture and local communities.

Looking Ahead, we continue to spread our sustainable practices, and the vision of Recycle Vanilla grows ever more ambitious. We aim not just to revolutionize the vanilla industry but also to inspire a shift towards sustainability across all sectors of agriculture. By demonstrating the power of innovative thinking and collective action, we can turn the tide against environmental degradation and pave the way for a greener, more sustainable future.