Agri-waste

A great deal of peel, pulp and stone waste is constantly being generated in the production of olive oil. And while that waste is often just dumped or incinerated, it could soon be used as a source of valuable antioxidants.

You may have heard how the BPA (bisphenol A) in some food-packaging plastics has been linked to various health problems. Scientists are thus developing a more innocuous alternative, and it's made from tomato waste which would otherwise be discarded.

Solar stills provide a clever and simple means of purifying dirty or salty water, but they work at a rather slow rate. A new material has been shown to boost their performance, and it's made from fruit waste which would otherwise be discarded.

Orange peels certainly are compostable, but Milan-based startup Krill Design has come up with an interesting alternative use for them. The company is incorporating orange waste into its 3D-printed Ohmie lamp, which is currently on Kickstarter.

Carbon fiber may be strong and light, but it's also expensive. South African scientists have developed a cheaper and more sustainable alternative, though, in which the carbon fibers are replaced with ones extracted from plantain plants.

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.

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.