Tag: Waste

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...

Tree bark can be an alternative to single-use plastic. Meanwhile a Finnish PhD student has alighted on pine bark as a filter for removing pharmaceutical residues from liquid waste. Treated wastewater often contains traces of medication such as blood pressure medicine or antidepressants. Antibiotics are particularly problematic as their presence helps pathogens develop resistance. The female researcher fortified the...

In Africa, group buying is making fresh produce more affordable. Meanwhile, a new startup in Germany is aiming to provide warm meals to those in financial need, while simultaneously reducing food waste in canteens. Students or those on a tight budget register on the app. After vetting, they can request food each day from a nearby canteen for a...

Wastewater from soybean production can provide fodder for fish. Meantime, a university research team from the US has been experimenting with wastewater from beer and potato production, as the sodium acetate it contains is a carbon compound offering a low-cost alternative to glucose. Like glucose, it can be a carbon source for the protein-rich microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana. The team...

Waste from wine production can be put to good use. But wine left in opened bottles is generally discarded after 3 days because of oxidation or loss of quality. That's $1.5 billion dollars of wine wasted each year in America alone. Enter a female founder and her startup's patented new solution. Her innovation comprises a silicon stopper lid and...

A robot can clean oceans by dropping harmful seaweed below the surface. Yet in Brasil, a research team has found a new use for sargassum, a rapidly-spread brown algae that stinks out beaches. The team mixed the seaweed with clay, using 20% sargassum in one batch and 40% in the other. These samples were compressed at temperatures of 800-1.000°C...

Robot boats are clearing Hong Kong’s waters, while intelligent bins monitor their own fill levels. For better recycling, a startup from Würzburg has created an analysis system used during waste sorting. It combines digital cameras and near-infrared sensors with artificial intelligence. Parsing images of the material flow, the AI detects both individual objects and additional properties such as weight,...

When combined, microorganisms and corn stover make a palm-oil alternative, while fermented sugarcane can be used to fry food. Japanese food, meanwhile, is often fried in batter: per restaurant, some 5kg of tempura dishes are left uneaten every day. The leftovers can catch fire if exposed to oxygen, and are thus mixed with water and refrigerated until discarded. But...