Grape Marc Study

2020

Repurposing Grape Marc in Marlborough: The Way Forward by Jim Jones, Sarah McLaren and Qun Chen was initiated by the Marlborough District Council and is funded in part by them and by the Waste Minimisation Fund. The motivation to consider alternatives for repurposing grape marc has a number of contributing factors; (i), the quantity of grape marc is large, estimated in 2019 at 46,000 tonnes from 305,467 tonnes of pressed grapes, which produce an estimated 218 million litres of wine; (ii), the vineyard area is expanding rapidly, from 25,135 ha (2017) to 27,808 ha (2020). (iii), earlier attempts to compost grape marc led to prosecution of some operators for poor environmental outcomes; (iv), direct land-spreading of raw grape marc has arisen as the preferred activity but is not without environmental risk; (v), both direct land-spreading and composting require land and necessitate take-back arrangements with winegrowers; and (vi), neither composting nor direct land-spreading offer the opportunity to add value.

Source: https://www.marlborough.govt.nz/repository/libraries/id:1w1mps0ir17q9sgxanf9/hierarchy/Documents/Services/Recycling%20and%20Resource%20Recovery/Project_Outputs/Towards_Stage_2_-_Repurposing_Grape_Marc_in_Marlborough_-_The_Way_Forward_-_030620.pdf