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The By-Product is a all right secondary obtained from an industrial process, when said procedure was originally carried out to manufacture another product.
That is, when developing a economic activity, residual goods can be generated that will no longer be part of the production process. However, it is feasible to give commercial value to these by-products.
It should be clarified that it is not the same by-product as waste. While the first one has utility, the second no.
By-product characteristics
Among the characteristics of the by-products we can highlight:
- Sometimes they are obtained casually or involuntarily.
- They can be used as raw material in a different production process.
- They are usually of less value than the main product.
- They are not the first focus of the company’s activity.
- With the ecological trend and the circular economy, companies are trying to reuse the materials they use for their production processes. That way, you are looking to generate more by-products than before.
- Creativity is key to give commercial value to the residual goods of the production process.
- By marketing its by-products, the company can obtain an additional economic benefit, even operating as an alternative business.
- In some cases, by-products must undergo processing to be marketed.
- It is important that the by-products comply with environmental and health regulations. Thus, some remnants of industrial processes must be disposed of due to their level of toxicity, for example, in mining.
By-product example
An example of a byproduct can be coffee pulp. This is a fibrous material that wraps the coffee bean and is extracted in the pulping process.
To reuse the pulp, it is usually used as fertilizer and as biomass to feed animals. In addition, it has also been used to grow edible mushrooms and is fermented to produce liquor.