Tag: Reuse

Coffee grounds are a versatile thing: used in everything from sustainable concrete to glasses frames, even offering natural oils for cosmetics. But as a cocoa alternative? It might sound far-fetched, but that’s exactly what a USA-based startup is trying to achieve. The logic is simple enough: from a taste perspective there are similarities between coffee and cocoa. First the...

Waste wood isn’t just suitable as a sustainable polystyrene substitute. Now, a Finnish research team has created an alternative to petroleum-based resin using sawdust and straw. The presence of petroleum-based bonding agents makes it tricky to recycle composites, which are used for wind turbines, boats and RVs. The team extracted cellulose and hemicellulose from the waste wood, successfully developing...

Small villages can inspire innovation for the circular economy in cocoa production. Now an Oxford-based startup is working on a sustainable substitute to the cocoa bean. Sound familiar? This time rather than cell cultures the team is using the plant’s pod. First, the shells are chopped up and, using an age-old Japanese method, fermented with the help of fungi. The...

AI can find sustainable materials for the textile industry. A startup in England, meanwhile, is focusing on the circular economy and the power of nature to create non-toxic colouration technology. Plants owe their dazzling colour to crystals present in their cell walls, which reflect light differently depending on how they are arranged. The team extracts these crystals from the...

Spirit production provides furniture in Scotland. And as another Scottish startup discovered, whisky by-products can also help reduce overfishing. The team uses distillery waste water to manufacture Omega-3s. Wild fish are known to be a rich source of the fatty acids, but they actually acquire them by eating algae. The team used the waste from whisky distillation (including barley)...

Rapidly-spreading algae can be repurposed as building material. Now, an Austrian startup is using waste from construction to store CO2 safely and create new materials at the same time. First the scrap material is analysed. Whether rubble or slag from iron or steel production, ash from incinerator plants or cement waste. Based on a sample, a patented process determines...

Lights on fishing nets reduce unwanted bycatch. But, once discarded, fishing nets endanger sea life. Enter a British startup, which aims to reuse old nets and reduce marine pollution. With the help of small investors, the English founder has developed a patented machine in a shipping container, which can shred and clean up to 20kg of old nylon nets...

Some loudspeakers double as air purifiers. But what about analogue loudspeakers sitting gathering dust? Well, according to a Danish startup, it's time they received a new lease of life. The team's crowdfunded battery-powered box provides access to the digital world with a stereo port for two-wire audio cables. An in-built Bluetooth connection allows the box to be coupled with digital...