Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
  • 8/3/2022
A T-shirt made from milk waste ... beer waste turned into laundry pods ...

Meet the startup Mi Terro finding new uses for some of the most common food waste

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:00This t-shirt is made from milk waste that we sourced from my uncle's dairy farm.
00:04And this pot with detergent inside is made from beer waste.
00:08So we're solving two global problems with a single solution.
00:21My goal today is to take agriculture waste and turn it into bio-materials
00:26that can make our world greener.
00:30Beer is the third most consumed beverage in the entire world.
00:41That means there is so much spent grain that we can source from this beer waste,
00:47which we use to create the flexible film of our materials.
00:51It can be made into ceramic wrap, food wrap, product label for bottles,
00:56and even edible sachets that can protect dry nuts and dry powders.
01:01You can treat our material just like other types of organic waste,
01:05such as banana peel, orange peel.
01:07It can naturally biodegrade under the right condition.
01:22And it was a big problem for him.
01:23So my uncle asked me, Robert, can you help me find a better solution
01:28in creating a higher value from the milk waste?
01:31And that was when the idea hit.
01:32Eventually, we developed a patent-pending process that can upcycle
01:37and convert the milk waste into protein polymer, which can be used as textile fiber.
01:54We didn't expect much of an outcome because we thought this was something very,
01:57very new for people to get comfortable with.
02:00But out of our surprise, in 48 hours, we were fully funded.
02:05And that was amazing.
02:07It was a first taste of success.
02:11So these pods are made from fossil dry materials,
02:24which can then be made into microplastic that flows in our ocean.
02:29Research has shown that there are trillions of tons of microplastic in our ocean,
02:34which can eventually come back to us when we drink water.
02:38And microplastic has been found in plasma and placenta.
02:43Very scary.
02:44This material is made from Mitero, which is sourced from agricultural waste.
02:49It's plant-based and it does not harm the environment.
03:05Our partnership with Mitero,
03:07it's a great partnership.
03:09They're taking agricultural waste and converting it into a protein
03:13that can be used as a plastic replacement.
03:15So yeah, this is exciting.
03:18By paying farmers and paying food manufacturers, it's a win-win situation for everyone.
03:25They get additional revenue and we get their raw material through
03:29making the higher value products.
03:31Food waste, plastic waste happens every single day on the global scale.
03:37However, what's even more urgent is the global public health.
03:41That plastic and carbon emission will impact our children,
03:46grandchildren, and many, many more generations that come after us.
03:51We must act now and must act fast to save their future.

Recommended