Zero Waste

South Korea’s Chilgok County has created a plant-based leather alternative from discarded melon peels, with the aim of boosting farm incomes and the local economy alike. As leather's true climate impact speeds up efforts to…
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The Robertson Foundation has invested $19M in six organisations working to lower methane emissions from the food system via plant-forward dietary shifts and food waste reduction. US grant-making organisation Robertson Foundation is…
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US agrifood tech startup SCO2 has secured $2.65M in seed funding to advance its supercritical carbon dioxide extraction tech, which can recover valuable compounds from food waste for use in various industries. SCO2, a Minnesota-based…
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Singapore's National Environment Agency has awarded S$5.3M ($4.1M) to three food waste upcycling projects as part of its Closing the Resource Loop initiative. To tackle its food waste problem and boost its self-sufficiency, the…
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Protein Industries Canada has funded a new project to create an AI platform that can make fermentation cheaper and more efficient, and "unlock new value" from agricultural byproducts. The Canadian government has announced its latest…
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US startup Mushmycel has introduced a range of vegan leather accessories derived from waste materials like reclaimed mushrooms, coffee grounds and coconut fibres. As consumers look for sustainable alternatives to harmful fashion…
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The Finnish government has invested €1.8M in local food producer Raisio for a project to create functional fibre ingredients from grain byproducts, with the latter investing a further €2.7M. As Europe seeks to cut its food waste…
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Swedish food tech startup Livoo has unveiled Eco-Oatup, a new protein- and fibre-rich ingredient derived from the pulp left over from oat milk production. In the home of oat milk, one company is turning the leftover okara into a…
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The Proscale project has received €8.5M in funding, most of it from the EU, to scale up single-cell proteins using food industry waste and continuous fermentation. A new pan-European initiative aims to accelerate the food system's green…
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Protein Industries Canada has invested in a new project to upcycle beer industry waste into high-value ingredients, including sustainable proteins, fibres, and cocoa extenders. Can beer really be the solution to all our (food system)…
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UK startup Adamo Foods has won a €10M ($11.7M) grant from the EU's Horizon Europe programme for a project to use industry sidestreams to scale up and launch its whole-cut mycelium meat. The EU is backing a three-year project to convert…
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Swiss food tech startup Yeastup has signed a distribution agreement with DKSH to sell its beer-waste-derived UpFiber Beta-Glucan ingredient in the DACH region. Months after opening an industrial-scale facility to produce proteins from…
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Japanese trading giant Kanematsu Corporation has teamed up with US startup 2nd Nature to use AI to explore the potential of its agricultural sidestreams as sources of high-value functional ingredients. Artificial intelligence (AI) is…
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UK food tech firm Fermtech has raised £2.5M ($3.3M) to scale up production of Koji Cocoa, a planet-friendly ingredient derived from cocoa shells and fermentation. Big Chocolate is going big on cocoa alternative startups, whether they're…
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British sustainable packaging firm Shellworks has raised $15M in Series A funding for its plastic-free Vivomer material, which is produced via the microbial fermentation of waste. London-based Shellworks is eyeing an expansion of its…
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As it gears up for a £5M funding round, Upcycled Plant Power, a startup turning waste broccoli stems into high-value ingredients, has introduced its fibre product, Fiba, to the UK foodservice sector. To meet the UK's protein and fibre…
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The Spare Food Co, a startup that upcycles produce for use in blended meat, has won a national contract with Premier to bring its proteins to hospitals, schools, universities, and corporate kitchens. A new foodservice partnership has…
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Dutch startup Time-Travelling Milkman has teamed up with Finland's VTT Technical Research Centre on a $700,000 EU-backed project to create a plant protein from sunflower sidestreams. To tackle the worsening climate and food insecurity…
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Australian national research agency CSIRO and the UK's University of Leeds are developing an AI tool that can convert food waste into sustainable protein, in a project funded by the Bezos Earth Fund. Replacing ruminant meat with more…
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Researchers in the UK have devised a method to turn the yeast left over from beer production into edible scaffolds for affordable cultivated meat. When it comes to meat, nose-to-tail eating could give way to a "pint to plate" approach,…
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Ikea's VC arm, Ingka Investments, has bought a majority stake in Sweden's The Green Dairy, which makes plant-based products from oats and fava beans, with an 80 million kronor ($8.6M) investment. Long known for its interest in the…
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