Tag: Recycling

Home food waste can be sent off to make chicken feed. But what about unused paint in cellars and garages? In the US alone, around 320 million litres of paint each year end up being incinerated, or worse, thrown in the garbage. Not good enough, thought founders of a Michigan-based startup and developed a new recycling process. Unused latex...

We’ve seen seaweed make lemonade, and AI harnessed in the quest for the perfect beer. Now a San Francisco-based startup is looking to pull pints from treated wastewater. Buildings use only 14% of drinkable water, but generally don’t re-use it. The team used the recycled greywater - water with no faecal contamination - from a high-rise apartment building. The...

New schools are being built from old plastic; new chipboard from the waste from cocoa crops. Now, two graduates from Denver University want to do something about the 80 million used tyres residing nearby. They have reversed the thermoplastic process by which rubber is made into synthetic plastic. During the so-called devulcanization process, toxins and sulphur components are broken...

Edible construction material may soon be on everyone’s lips. Now, an Italian-Ecuadorian design team is producing versatile new materials using agricultural waste from cocoa crops. Key to the enterprise: the beans’ outer shell. Their first product from crushed and pressed shell remains is a 12-15 cm thick chipboard perfect for furniture or component parts. Further products such as bioplastic...

Pineapple peel is good for fish health, while domestic food waste can be made into chicken feed. Now, a food science research team from Cornell has discovered that an apple a day not only keeps doctors away from humans, but also benefits chickens. Their focus is on pomace, the fibrous waste produced when apples are pressed. It contains enough...

Steel can be replaced by bamboo and tiles made with bacteria. Now, a Japanese research team is converting food waste into biodegradable construction material, using discarded items from supermarkets such as vegetables, tea leaves and coffee grounds. Following their patent-pending process, the food waste is dried, pulverised and then heat-pressed into a mould and . Depending on its contents,...

A natural film keeps food fresh for longer and reduces waste. Now, a startup from San Francisco has developed a private home service-system which converts food waste into nutrient-rich chicken feed. Using an electrically-operated steel container with a charcoal odour filter, kitchen scraps are dried overnight. Once the bin is full after a few weeks, users decant it into...

Farm stubble, sawdust, and corn flakes are valuable resources for packaging material. Now, a Ukrainian startup is turning to nature’s other gifts to help lower CO2 emissions. Why fell 17 trees to make a ton of paper when you could use 2.3 tons of fallen leaves instead? After being collected from parks, sidewalks and residential developments, the leaves are...