While it throws out about 90 pounds of food per person every year, Japan doesn't rank at the top of the world's list of wasteful nations. Still, what's thrown away represents a serious problem for an island nation with limited landfill space and a goal of greater sustainability. Reinvention can offer an alternative. A Japanese company is taking vegetable peels, cooking oil and other used foodstuffs and making entirely different products.
Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world, and its key element, cement(水泥), is a major polluter of greenhouse emissions. So what if a more sustainable alterative were possible by making cement with food waste, which also would help reduce greenhouse emissions from landfills where that waste would otherwise be thrown away? That's the idea behind Fabula, a Tokyo-based start-up.
Researchers at Fabula created a recipe to make food concrete by drying leftovers and pressing them into a mold(模具) at a high temperature. The company, founded by researchers at the University of Tokyo, began with items commonly thrown away like cabbage and orange peels but found that almost any food item can be used. It now takes mostly coffee grounds and tea leaves to make its cement. The product's durability depends on the components.
Fabula is currently producing made-to-order household items, such as coasters and dishes, while awaiting its patent. The goal is to make furniture and larger structures once the technology is able to make the cement more durable. Food production companies that can't avoid generating waste during their processes have reached out to work with the company. "We hope to become a matching service between companies that have food waste and companies who want to build things out of such materials," said Takuma Oishi, Fabula's chief commercial officer.
Since the cement is 100 percent catable, it could create opportunities during disaster response when temporary structures need to be built quickly. The people inside might even turn to them for food. If the technology advances enough, Oishi suggested, someday we may be able "to eat the homes or furniture when necessary".
