Over the past few months we’ve taken a deep dive into our climate tech innovators: Climeworks, Pacific Biochar, Eion, and Neste Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Our portfolio is uniquely curated to clean up legacy carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere and reduce the amount of new emissions from air travel. Our newest innovation series revolves around just that: exciting new tech innovations that abate emissions from all aspects of our lives, not just travel. First up, Food Waste.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), approximately one-third of all the food produced for human consumption is wasted. This amounts to approximately 1.3 billion tons of food scraps that rot in landfills and emit 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent ghg emissions every year. For context, this equals the annual amount of CO2 emissions of 42 coal fired power plants (EPA).
California based startup, Mill, has created a product that diverts food waste from landfills and instead, feeds farms. It's called the Kitchen Bin, and it looks just like a regular trash can, except it weighs 50lbs and at night it churns your dinner scraps into odorless food grounds. Different from the fertilizer that comes out of traditional composters, food grounds are a lighter, odorless, ground up dried food product that can be picked up by the Mill Service Plan and fed to chickens. Taking into account production, energy usage and shipment emissions, this circular food system prevents 521.1 kg CO2e from entering the atmosphere per household per year. Imagine the climate impact of having multiple Kitchen Bins in the hotel on your next vacation.