Agri-waste

When a cotton gin is used to separate cotton fibers from their seeds, a lot of lint is produced as a waste product. Currently, much of that cotton lint is just burned or put in landfills. Thanks to recent research out of Australia, however, it may soon be converted into biodegradable plastic.

​Livestock manure may seem like a relatively "green" form of crop fertilizer, but unfortunately it's full of phosphorous that pollutes waterways when it's carried off the land in runoff water. That's why scientists have developed a phosphorous-removal system known as MAPHEX.

​Paper is typically made from cellulose fibers derived from wood, and wood isn't plentiful in places where there aren't many trees. In the near future, however, that may not be a problem, as scientists have devised a method of making paper from cow and even elephant manure.

​Sixteen years after a controversial biodegradation plan allowed 1,000 truckloads of orange peels to be unloaded onto a barren, deforested area of Costa Rican land, researchers have found a lush, overgrown forest with richer soil and more tree species than the adjacent land that was untreated.

Soon you may no longer have to choose between better-tasting and better-for-you. Scientists have developed a method of boosting the antioxidant levels of milk chocolate up to those of its dark counterpart, while also putting a waste product to new use.​

Researchers have used defective apples to produce a cheap and high-performance electrode for a sodium-ion battery, with applications including grid storage, portable electronics and electric cars.

Peanut shells are generally considered to be a worthless agricultural byproduct. That could be about to change, however, as scientists have developed an air-purifying filter that utilizes the shells.​

In tropical countries such as the Philippines, there are plenty of rice husks ... and also plenty of termites. A group of engineering students recently decided to use the former to address the latter, by creating termite-resistant particleboard from rice husks.

A chemist is making eco-friendly fireplace logs from lawn clippings.

A Hong Kong company is selling 100% biodegradable fast food containers, made from waste straw left over after wheat harvesting.

Researchers have created partially-biodegradable bioplastic using waste meat and bone meal.

The Argentine National Institute for Industrial Technology is taking an interesting alternative approach to the green revival interest in natural dyes: they're experimenting with the extraction of pigments from agricultural waste.