How can kitchen scraps fuel a cleaner future?
Farming, food processing and retailers all generate organic waste that is typically burned or buried. The EU-funded WASTE2FUNC(opens in new window) project sought to valorise this waste stream by demonstrating how it could be used to create desirable products such as functional molecules used in soaps and cosmetics. The project has now been featured in the CORDIS series of explanatory videos titled ‘Make the connection with EU science’. Digesting the food waste in bioreactors allowed researchers to produce bio-surfactants and lactic acid, two key molecules used in cosmetics, with a 20 % reduction in emissions when compared to alternatives made with fossil fuels. “The food waste-based lactic acid and biosurfactants have the same functionality and are hence 1-on-1 replaceable in their prototype formulations,” says Sofie Lodens, WASTE2FUNC project coordinator. ‘Make the connection with EU science’ is a series of explanatory videos focusing on the scientific content and exploitation aspects of EU research projects.