• Starbucks to use biorefineries to recycle waste food and coffee grinds into detergent and plastic!


  • Starbucks has just come up with an innovative way to put to use all the stale food and coffee grinds it generates on a daily basis in Hong Kong, recycling it all into laundry detergent! Using a biorefinery that essentially segregates waste food and recycling it all into bio-plastics and laundry detergents, the initiative is being put into place to help the coffee house chain reduce its carbon footprint and uses a process wherein fungi is mixed into stale food, which in turn breaks down the carbohydrates into simple sugar. The resultant blend is then fermented into succinic acid, an important ingredient in laundry detergent, plastic and medicine manufacturing. With about 5,000 tons of waste food from Starbucks ending up in garbage bins annually, the move is bound to help reduce its carbon footprint substantially.

    [Nydailynews and Gizmodo]

    Posted in Topics:Recycle, Tags: , on August 29, 2012