5 innovative ways scientists are tackling food waste

By Pune Media On Jan 30, 2025 19

Food waste is an incredibly large problem, particularly in the United States, where approximately 133 billion pounds of food — roughly 30-40% of the food supply — is wasted every year.

In an effort to combat this issue, scientists are working to improve farming practices to limit waste from the source and find innovative ways to repurpose food waste after it has been created.

Photo Credit: iStock

A Swedish startup has developed a crop-growing system that uses less water and no soil, which could very well transform the farming industry. Using a method called hydroponics, crops are grown in a sterile and controlled environment, eliminating the need for pesticides and expanding growing locations.

This method could help reduce food waste by limiting transportation distances (and thus the risk of fresh produce going bad) while also saving water, another scarce resource.

Photo Credit: University of Bonn

Researchers are finding uses for AI in nearly every industry, including farming. By processing more than 100,000 images of crops at various stages of growth, a machine-learning algorithm is able to predict crop health and yield.

TCD NEWSLETTER
Your personal guide to a cleaner, cooler future

Much of food waste comes from farms themselves before produce even hits shelves, and with 20-40% of global produce loss caused by pests, this AI system could help save plants before it’s too late.

Photo Credit: iStock

Food waste is also being used to power shipping vessels by converting it into green methanol — which could eventually be used in passenger vehicles. Though annual methanol production is set to hit 550 million tons by 2050, only about 220,000 tons of green methanol are currently produced every year.

A jump in the production and use of green methanol over traditional methanol could prevent 1.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide pollution from entering the atmosphere every year.

Photo Credit: LeftCoast

Scientists are also turning food waste into building materials. They collect shellfish shells that would have just been thrown away, crush them, and then use them in concrete.

Though they might seem like a useless addition, the shells make the concrete more porous and allow water to seep through, creating flood-resistant concrete — a big upgrade over traditional concrete or asphalt.

Photo Credit: iStock

A byproduct of the cheese industry is turning out to be a crucial ingredient in the extraction of gold from old computer boards. Whey is used to make a type of sponge that collects gold when e-waste is soaked in an acid bath.

The cheese sponge method is not only creative but also effective. The value of the gold extracted with this method is 50 times higher than the cost of the process used to secure it, and this helps diminish both e-waste and food waste.

Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don’t miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}

_{Aggregated From –}

_{Source link}