Agave waste from tequila production can be turned into cutlery.
Once the gel from aloe vera plants has been made into moisturising lotion or cream for medical complaints, however, the rest often goes unused. Until now.
It all began when a Texas-based research team noticed there were no pests near aloe vera farms. Intrigued, they began looking into the phenomenon by examining the peel.
So far, they have successfully extracted six different compounds from aloe vera rinds, all non-toxic, and all suitable for pest control. And there could be a lot more still to come.
Beer waste mixed with rapeseed oil and cow dung makes for pretty decent fertiliser. A labyrinthine netting, meanwhile, protects plants from even tiny parasites.
