University of Waikato students buzzing about new invention
17 June 2016
A group of Waikato University students has set out to turn honey production on its head with a product that aims to speed up the honey-making process.
The friends, who all met at university, call themselves Inn-Digi and they’ve created a product which replicates a honeycomb, meaning bees can produce honey straight away rather than wasting time and beeswax on making the honeycomb first.
The product is called 3D Gold HoneyCombs and its creators say it will significantly increase honey production while reducing beeswax wastage.
“In commercial production, a beekeeper lays a foundation of wax to the hive frame, and the bees then extract honey and turn it into beeswax to create the honeycomb,” says group member Christopher Coromandel.
“The process can sometimes take up to 12 weeks, and a lot of honey is wasted in the process – about 10kgs of honey to every 1kg of beeswax."
The product they’ve designed is an insert with pre-made holes that resemble a honeycomb and it was on show at this year’s Fieldays as part of the innovation competition.
“Generally, it takes 33,000 bee hours to make about 5kgs of beeswax, with about 3 to 4kgs of that wasted, along with millions of dollars in lost profit for the honey industry,” says Chris.
While they’re at prototype stage now, the group’s next steps will be to finalise testing, raise the capital required, and move to production. For the final product they’re looking at using biopolymer plastic, which is made from biodegradable materials, to create the honeycomb trays.
The Inn-Digi team has had plenty of attention with the product so far, including interviews with Breakfast and the Paul Henry Show during Fieldays.