Once you’ve squeezed all of the oil from an olive or the juice from a grape, what do you have left? Just a pile of useless skins?

Pomace is the leftover solid material from pressing fruits like grapes, apples, and olives. Some pomace gets used to make spirits like grappa, though most of it will end up as animal feed or fertilizer. However, scientists in Switzerland may have found a new use for pomace as a replacement for plastic film used to wrap produce.

Scientists at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, or Empa, working with retailer Lidl Switzerland, have worked together since 2019 to develop a plastic-free and biodegradable produce wrap. The new material, made from locally-sourced pomace, is a sprayable and non-toxic coating that protects fruits and vegetables from contamination, retains moisture, and keeps produce fresh up to a week longer than unwrapped food.