The option for food waste is quite limited - either throw it away or compost it - but there may soon be a third option: make it into a new and robust construction material.
Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science at The University of Tokyo first turned fruit and vegetable scraps such as seaweed, cabbage leaves as well as orange, onion, pumpkin, and banana peels into powder. Then, they mixed the powder with some water, poured the resulting mixture into a mold and pressed it at high temperature.
When they tested the newly molded material, the researchers discovered that they were quite strong. "With the exception of the specimen derived from pumpkin, all of the materials exceeded our bending strength target," said Kota Machida in a statement, "We also found that Chinese cabbage leaves, which produced a material over three times stronger than concrete, could be mixed with the weaker pumpkin-based material to provide effective reinforcement."
Surprisingly, the materials remained edible. They were also more resistant to rotting, fungus and insect infestations and didn't change in appearance or taste after being exposed to air for up to four months.
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