Scientists turn food scraps into construction materials

[rayg]

Scientists turn food scraps like banana peels, seaweed and cabbage leaves into construction materials that are 'at least as strong as concrete'

Researchers in Japan created a way to turn food waste, such as banana peels or cabbage leaves into building products for construction

They used a 'heat pressing' concept that turns wood powder into construction materials

They tweaked that by using vacuum-dried food scraps instead and mixing the food powder with water, seasonings and put it at a temperature to test the strength, taste, smell and appearance
All of the materials exceeded the researchers strength targets, except for pumpkins

Chinese cabbage leaves 'produced a material over three times stronger than concrete'

The material was not negatively impacted by rot, fungi, or insects and there was no 'appreciable changes' to appearance or taste after being exposed to air for four months
The World Food Program estimates that one-third of the world's food is wasted every year, or $1 trillion worth

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9621137/Scientists-turned-food-scraps-like-banana-peels-cabbage-leaves-construction-materials.html

[Art]

I remember a similar experiment from back in the 1950s. Sugar planters looking for a way to use discarded cane after removing the juice came up with a wall board called "bagas." I think that's how it was spelled. It looked a little like OSB and was used for interior walls. For a while it had some pretty good usage at least in Louisiana and then just disappeared. I'm sure this new stuff will be a lot better.

[Mark in Ottawa]

.....and if you get hungry in the middle of the night.......

[dryheat]

I remember a similar experiment from back in the 1950s. Sugar planters looking for a way to use discarded cane after removing the juice came up with a wall board called "bagas." I think that's how it was spelled. It looked a little like OSB and was used for interior walls. For a while it had some pretty good usage at least in Louisiana and then just disappeared. I'm sure this new stuff will be a lot better.

Maybe building a house with sugar wouldn't work in The Outback.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2021/05/20/australia-mice-infestation-watson-pkg-intl-hnk-vpx.cnn

[BudT]

I suggest that someone interested in such "stuff" check back after they have been in use for say 25 years out in the real world. You should know by then if they really do hold up. But do we have 25 years? AOC said 12 years 3-4 years ago along with Al and his other supporters predictions they made then that didn't come close to happening, the polar bears are starving to death ya know.

[lyman]

I suggest that someone interested in such "stuff" check back after they have been in use for say 25 years out in the real world. You should know by then if they really do hold up. But do we have 25 years? AOC said 12 years 3-4 years ago along with Al and his other supporters predictions they made then that didn't come close to happening, the polar bears are starving to death ya know.

wasn't there some similar construction done 25-40 yrs ago out of blocks made out of trash and some resin??

and don't forget the houses made of adobe and with bottles as windows

[dryheat]

Earth homes. All varieties. I went down to the baja coast to look at a development for retirees. They built the places out of bales of straw all held together with string then stuccoed over. First off, the place was a wasteland. Just sand as far as you could see. The beach sucked immensely. It was the same sand for about a mile out with a depth of 4'. 175 miles of awful road to get there. I remember when we got off the bus the guy said, Welcome to Paradise. You gotta be kidding. You'd have to pay me..a lot to live here.

[JB White]

Construction materials from food scraps? Geniuses didn't figure insects and rodents into the equation. May as well build from gingerbread. Get the problem over with ASAP.

In the 90s we had to do a project using 'drywall' made from fireproofed recycled newspaper.
Structurally it fell somewhere between dried cheese and buffalo chips. Can't blame the college kid who conceived it. The ones who approved it needed a severe attitude adjustment.

[BudT]

I've made up my mind, Ill continue to use the "normal" materials that I have used my entire life. Cutting trees down and milling them is a normal thing to do, after-all a new tree can grow in it's place. There are hundreds of billions of board feet of good timber rotting at this moment in the mountains because they cant be retrieved because of enviro Nazis.

[Major Tom]

No way wold I live in a plant based house. I don't eat plant based 'hamburgers' either.
Now a house built from adobe with 2 foot thick walls would be fine with me. Lumber is 365% higher than it was 4 months ago. Steel 190% higher, etc, etc.