For some time now, big data has held the promise of having a revolutionary impact on various sectors of society that will lead to better, faster decision-making, improved processes, and ground-breaking discoveries. In agriculture, better data management, analysis, and application can boost animal and crop improvement, biosecurity and disease control, postharvest technology, agroprocessing, value chain analysis and development, as well as food sustainability and security. It can also help counter and build resilience to climate change.

To help South Africa’s paper, packaging and tissue industry secure a more sustainable future — that is the mission of a new demonstration plant at a papermill in KwaZulu-Natal. Driven by the ingenuity of Stellenbosch University’s chemical engineers, it was put into operation in 2023. The plant showcases the value of a process by which paper waste sludge destined for disposal in a landfill is turned into purified, high-value bioethanol.

Microbiologist Wessel Myburgh “grew up” as a scientist and entrepreneur during his time as a member of the Senior Chair of Energy Research (CoER): Biofuels and Other Alternative Clean Fuels. Now the co-founder of Urobo Biotech, Myburgh uses his knowledge of how yeasts and enzymes effectively break down plant-based waste into new products to improve the state of the planet he so dearly loves. He does this by tackling the mounting issue of what happens to used bioplastics.