New York City Startup Plans to Turn Food Waste Into Fresh Fertilizer

The idea of using food waste as fertilizer is not new by any stretch of the imagination. People have been composting for centuries, and it’s been one of the ways we introduce nutrients back into the soil. However, what is unusual is a large-scale effort to collect food waste in a city, and then to use that food waste as fresh fertilizer for hydroponic farming within that same city, keeping the waste and its recycling (as well as the fresh food grown from its use) local.

And according to Climate Connections, that’s exactly what the unique startup Re-Nuble is doing in New York City.

Creating a Fresh Cycle

Food waste is a real, serious problem across America. In addition to the sheer waste it generates, this decomposing food creates greenhouse gases that rise into the atmosphere. When you add in the additional exhaust from transportation and the CO2 that’s created from making artificial fertilizers, it’s a system with a lot of waste products that are flooding the atmosphere.

Re-Nuble’s plan is to take that waste, remake it into a useful product, and then utilize that fresh product to cut down on (if not eliminate) the other forms of waste.

Re-Nuble collects food waste from food distributors and food processors. Then they process them in their own facilities. The result is organic fertilizer pellets that, when exposed to water, provide nutrients to plants in a way that mimics being out in the elements. These pellets can then be used to grown fresh fruits and vegetables in indoor hydroponic facilities, thus turning the old waste into fresh food in an authentic way.

And since hydroponic facilities can be built anywhere (though they often exist in major cities), this cuts down on food transportation while making more food available in locations where it’s needed. It also cuts out artificial fertilizer from the equation, thus reducing all of those emissions, in addition to the waste and greenhouse gases that all that food waste would have rendered if it was just left to rot.

While Re-Nuble currently has facilities in New York City and Rochester, it has plans to expand to the West Coast. If this sort of cycle could be extended wider, it could make a serious difference in how our food waste is processed and where our food comes from.