{"id":19184,"date":"2016-02-01T11:56:21","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T16:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=19184"},"modified":"2016-02-01T11:56:21","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T16:56:21","slug":"palm-oil-from-food-waste-a-process-that-could-create-all-sorts-of-environmental-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/palm-oil-from-food-waste-a-process-that-could-create-all-sorts-of-environmental-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"Palm Oil From Food Waste? A Process That Could Create All Sorts Of Environmental Wins [Video]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As we noted recently, food waste <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/2016\/01\/food-waste-doesnt-just-make-mess-also-disturbs-wildlife-ecosystems\/\">is a threat to wildlife<\/a>. So is palm oil, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fastcoexist.com\/3056006\/could-fake-palm-oil-made-from-food-waste-help-save-orangutans\"><em>Co.Exist<\/em>&#8216;s Adele Peters<\/a>. \u00a0The <a href=\"http:\/\/eatdrinkbetter.com\/2014\/03\/13\/palm-oil-deforestation-can\/\">palm oil plantations<\/a> that produce this very popular additive to all sorts of products need the same environmental conditions as tropical rainforests. So, when it&#8217;s time to choose whether tropical rainforests are left alone, or razed for oil production, guess which option wins out&#8230; Rainforest in Indonesia, which is the world&#8217;s largest producer of palm oil, is disappearing at a very alarming rate, which threatens species like orangutans.<\/p>\n<p>But what if\u00a0these two environmental threats could be brought together to solve each other&#8217;s challenges? That&#8217;s what a group of researchers at the UK&#8217;s\u00a0University of Bath and University of York are exploring. In short, could agricultural residue and other forms of food waste be processed into a substance that mimics the best properties of palm oil?<\/p>\n<p>These scientists think that can happen with the help of\u00a0<em>Metschnikowia pulcherrima<\/em>, a strain of yeast that produces a palm-like oil after eating various food wastes. According to lead researcher\u00a0Rod Scott,\u00a0&#8220;Waste biomass from farming or food is ideal&#8230; Such biomass can have uses, but nothing with the value or environmental impact of a palm oil substitute. Our yeast grows very well on the type of food waste collected for recycling.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The UK government is funding research to figure out if this process can be scaled up to commercially-viable levels: we go through\u00a060 million metric tons of palm oil a year, so that&#8217;s quite a challenge. \u00a0The potential payoff would be huge in terms of environmental and economic impact: keeping that rainforest land intact and healthy while still producing the range of products dependent on palm oil.<\/p>\n<p>Take a look at the video above for more insight into the research project, and then let us know what you think.<\/p>\n<p>Featured photo credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/pic-59278447\/stock-photo-sumatran-wild-orangutan-hanging-on-liana-and-looking-at-camera.html?src=mLT62ucifhZq1EKDDItiYQ-1-1\">Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Palm oil production takes quite a toll on tropical rainforests. A process that makes a similar substance from food waste could reduce this impact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":19185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[7955,8815,1300,518,2787,396,202,8813,8814],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Palm Oil From Food Waste? A Potential Win For Rainforests<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Palm oil production takes quite a toll on tropical rainforests. A process that makes a similar substance from food waste could reduce this impact.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/palm-oil-from-food-waste-a-process-that-could-create-all-sorts-of-environmental-wins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Palm Oil From Food Waste? A Potential Win For Rainforests\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Palm oil production takes quite a toll on tropical rainforests. A process that makes a similar substance from food waste could reduce this impact.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/palm-oil-from-food-waste-a-process-that-could-create-all-sorts-of-environmental-wins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-01T16:56:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/protecting-orangutans-with-palm-oil-made-from-food-waste.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/palm-oil-from-food-waste-a-process-that-could-create-all-sorts-of-environmental-wins\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/palm-oil-from-food-waste-a-process-that-could-create-all-sorts-of-environmental-wins\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30\"},\"headline\":\"Palm Oil From Food Waste? 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