7. Repurpose

Many waste products from food processing can be repurposed, e.g. as animal feed, to produce black soldier flies for poultry feed, to produce cosmetics like soaps and scrubs, to upcycle into bags and jelwery, or to make other food products. Pineapple peels e.g. can be used to produce vinegar (a recipe is attached under resources), apple peel can be used to thicken jams, etc. These processes are called waste valorization. Old IT and telecommunications equipment as well as machines and appliances might find new life with other users instead of being send to the landfill.

If you are interested, you can read here how Jim Belles, the agriculture manager of the Sierra Nevada Chico brewery scoured the brewery for spare materials to repurpose for a chicken coop.

Or check out the products made from water satchets in Nigeria here, or in Ghana here.

Paperwaste from your office or from paper packaging might be a welcome resource for your local kindergarten or an artisan crafts(wo)man who makes beautiful paperbeads and jewelery out of paper. In the worst case, paper can be compressed into briquettes and used to fuel cooking fires or dryers.