While macadamia nuts are a delicious treat, our growers know that macadamia husks and shells are also an incredibly valuable resource. Once thought of as a waste product, the industry now uses the soft outer husks of the nuts as compost for orchards, enriching the soil and providing nutrients to the trees. This on-farm recycling helps add organic matter to the soil and helps to naturally sequester carbon.

The notoriously hard macadamia shells were once thrown away. However, they are now recycled in a growing number of amazing ways. 

• One large macadamia producer in Bundaberg burns the macadamia shells in a specially controlled environment which not only creates heat to dry the kernels, it also creates electricity to power their cracking plant!

   

• Burning the shells at a high temperature in a low oxygen environment creates biochar, a natural high-carbon fertilizer that enriches the soil as well as naturally storing carbon rather than emitting it.

   

• Macadamia shells have been used to make building products like particle board as well as carbon filters and industrial nano-powders.

   

• Medical charcoal derived from macadamia shells has been used as an effective hospital treatment for some poisoning patients.

   

Read more about the many marvellous uses for macadamia shells here.