Transformation of wasted fruits in, by biomass IQF frozen, innovative portion packs In the province Retalhuleu, Guatemala, a lot of fruits go to waste. 30% of the mango production of the local partner Distribuidora de Frutas Tropicales S.A. and its outgrowers are rejects and cannot be exported. Furthermore, there are a lot of other outgrowers which produce fruits (papaya, pineapple and water melon) and do not have excess to export markets.The local partner and the American applicant CarbAmericas will set up a joint venture IQF plant to use fruit rejects and produce fruits for export markets. Around 854 outgrowers will be trained and 690 (totalling to 214 FTE) will be contracted. Moreover, 164 other suppliers (37.5 FTE) are contracted to collect organic waste for biomass energy production.A lot of sugar cane is produced in the region of the project which provides jobs to men. The PSI project will especially focus at jobs for women. A daycare centre gives women the opportunity to work.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)The partners will implement HACCP and GlobalGAP to secure food safety standards and traceability procedures. Furthermore, it will make use of renewable energy and reduce fruit waste in the regions (which otherwise would have been burned or dumped near the river side). The joint venture will offer childcare to employees so women can work.Impact•	Employment and working conditionsSalaries of employees are planned to be about 30% above minimum wages. Working conditions include a safe and hygienic working environment with first aid and medical care for the employees and its family members. Other fringe benefits are a crèche. In case the children of the employees (under 16 years) attend a school, the families will receive a "family bag", with all kinds of food, monthly. The employees and families will all have a medical insurance. The project will introduce food safety, hygiene and manufacturing criteria (GlobalGAP and HACCP) to the production and processing of IQF fruits.•	Innovation / Transfer of knowledgeIn Guatemala there is only a very limited number of IQF facilities, producing mainly frozen vegetables and melon pieces. However, they do not offer a waste outlet for small farmers, do not have mixed portioned packs customised to specific customers and do not produce according environmental friendly standards with regards to fruit waste recycling and biomass energy usage. Biomass renewable energy is used to produce electricity and energy for cooling and IQF production (that requires low temperature in production and storage). Absorption cooling (cooling by heating) is a concept, used for a century and is nearly maintenance free.In general not all techniques used in this project are innovative as such, but the whole combined waste recycling and energy efficient business concept is very innovative for Guatemala.Also, the concept of mixed wasted fruits as a basis for IQF frozen portioned packs is new. Mixed packages proportion and environment control is difficult to maintain. An efficient system to get a mixture of fruits for only 200 grams is used, connected with smaller machines which can handle a variety of fruits. Moreover, the sizes that the customers require are not fixed. The IQF sizes will be custom made, dependent on the demands of the clients in terms of what mix of fruits, sizes of batches and sizes of fruit blocks. This proportion control technology is new for Guatemala.•	Chain effects690 outgrowers will produce fruits for the joint venture. Rejects of mango producers will be sold to the joint venture. As for papaya, pineapple and watermelon outgrowers, a new export market is opened since these used to sell their fruits on the local market. The outgrowers will supply 7,900 kg fruits per day.10-20% of the produce will be sold locally to supermarkets, restaurants and hotels. For these clients the shelve-life of fruits will be much longer.•	Impact on the sector14 people will be involved in collection of fruit and 150 in biomass collection for energy generation. The biomass collectors will deliver waste. The joint venture will also promote use of organic compost to outgrowers, to make sure that the fruit products are safe.•	EnvironmentThe project is completely environmental friendly and can be seen as demonstration facility. From waste, which otherwise would have been burned or dumped, a new product is made. Furthermore, water will be filtered and reused and renewable energy is produced.•	Position of womenAbout 60% of the workforce will be women. This high percentage is only possible by having a child care centre near the factory.The region is producing sugar cane predominantly, which is a men's world, where no women are accepted to work. The partners are promoting the fruit cropping in the region and by doing so they are promoting a female workforce, what is extremely important for the local community.•	Impact on food safetyFood that would have gone to waste is used. A small part is for local use.•	Impact on waterWater is filtered and reused. Setting up an environmental friendly processing plant which uses fruit rejects for the production customised IQF fruits portions.