From Trash to Dirt: What To Do With Your Leftover Food

Pepperdine University is having some trouble as they try to go about achieving the goal set by the California government stating that 75% of waste must be diverted by 2050. This article covers the specifics of the conservation efforts at Pepperdine, and also looks at more successful programs going on at UCLA and Santa Clara University. Some effective tactics include a comprehensive education plan on recycling, requiring faculty and staff to dispose of landfill waste themselves by only collecting recyclable waste, and partnering with athletic teams to champion conservation.

Loyola University Chicago's Searle Biodiesel Lab converts approximately 9,000 gallons of used cooking oil annually from campus dining halls and local institutions into 8,000 gallons of cleaner-burning biodiesel, which powers eight campus shuttle buses and produces 1,500 gallons of hand soap as a byproduct. Since 2013, the lab has created learning opportunities for students and operated as a financially self-sustaining enterprise.

Green Era's biodigester facility processes food waste in a closed, oxygen-free system that captures methane and converts it into renewable natural gas while producing compost. The system, which launched in spring 2025, accepts packaged food waste from restaurants, food banks, grocery stores, and residential composting services. The facility diverts approximately 85,000 tons of food waste annually from landfills and supplies enough renewable natural gas to Peoples Gas to power up to 3,000 homes.

The supply chain for Valentine's Day flowers is incredibly toxic for the environment and produces mass amounts of waste. In response, a "floral gifting" service industry emerged in which flowers from special events can get repurposed or recycled. One such company, NYC-based Repeat Roses, has a special service that restyles the flowers into petite bouquets to donate to hospitals, nursing homes, and family shelters. Their efforts have diverted more than 98 tons of waste from landfills and delivered almost 53,000 floral arrangements to people in need.

In South Korea, a combination of grassroots movements and government campaigns have dramatically reduced the country's food waste by 95% (about 400 metric tons a day). Residents are required to buy special biodegradable bags, which serves as a tax that finances 60% of the city's food processing. It's a pay-as-you-waste tactic that also prompts citizens to find creative ways to recycle and compost, and special weighing machines encourage them to extract the moisture first, saving even more money on collection costs.

Recycled kitchen waste and charcoal ash makes for healthy soil healthy that is more resilient to climate change. For centuries, women in Ghana and Liberia have used this technique on their farmlands, which are renowned for their fertility. The technique has now attracted the attention of anthropologists and researchers.

San Francisco is popularizing centralized water reuse systems that collect blackwater from toilets and sinks and greywater from showers and washing machines to clean it and use it again. This is a cheaper, more sustainable option for nonpotable water used to water plants or flush toilets in a city struggling with water scarcity.

A clean-tech startup in Germany is producing sustainable food packaging out of agricultural waste as an alternative solution to single-use plastic. Bio-Lutions claims its products are compostable and uses less water than other products, but the material used won’t work for some food items like hot beverages. The company already has investors such as Delivery Hero that will use its products when the factory is producing compostable packaging.

All across the UK, zero-waste shops are gaining traction, with over 100 stores popping up in the last two years. They encourage shoppers to buy in bulk, minimize plastic waste, and ponder the power they have as consumers in where they shop. It’s part of a broader trend of reuse and repair that is making it easier to shop and live in an environmentally friendly way.

An ecosystem of doorstep collection platforms, refurbishment services, and certified formal recyclers in India is diverting e-waste from hazardous informal channels, recovering high-purity metals, and extending device lifespans. Formally processed e-waste rose from 22% to 43% during these initiatives between 2019 and 2024.