From Food Waste to Tires

I recently read an article on sciencedaily.com that talked about how researchers at the Ohio State University found out that they can reuse food waste to make fillers for tires. They are using egg shells and tomato peels to create a substitute for carbon black. Carbon black is an oil based filler for tires that is often purchased from overseas but, according to Katrina Cornish, it is getting harder to come by. With this advancement in filler production, not only is there a reduction in the use of petroleum, but there is also a reduction in the amount of food waste in landfills.

Photo Credits to CNN.com

A lot of food is thrown out every year so this innovation, while only for egg shells and tomato peels, can make a significant impact. On top of this, the production will be sustainable so shortages will not be likely. Another good part of this innovation is that the food waste is sourced locally, this means that we don’t have to pay to import materials from other countries, we can just go to landfills or even farms themselves. This new type of tire filter causes the rubber to be more of a reddish-brown, but if you ask me, this isn’t too big of a problem. A reddish-brown hue is a small price to pay for the reduction of petroleum dependence and use of food waste. With a growing population that wastes copious amounts of food, this is a breakthrough that America needs. This might not make too big of an impact on the quantity of food waste in landfills, this can definitely lead the way in the reuse of food waste.

Photo by Kenneth Chamberlain, courtesy of The Ohio State University

Sources:

https://news.osu.edu/news/2017/03/06/tomatotires/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170306134236.htm