Every day, supermarkets throw away foods past their expiration date. The lost food does more than deprive people of nourishment, it harms the environment. As it decomposes in landfills, food waste releases into the atmosphere methane gas, a greenhouse gas that traps heat at least 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Another is environmental pollutants that leach from wasted food into water sources and soil underneath.  

For reasons like these, Saudi Arabia has pledged to eliminate 90% of its waste dumped into landfills by 2040. And to achieve this goal, the Kingdom is in urgent need of technologies developed at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) that repurpose food waste into something valuable.  

“Food waste is not waste,” said KAUST Professor Pascal Saikaly, “but a resource that can be converted into high-value products.” At least it is after it passes through a new recycling technology developed by him and his research team, including Dr. Bin Bian, now an assistant professor at Nanjing University (China), research scientist Dr. Hari Anada Rao, and senior research scientist Dr. Krishna Katuri.  

>> Read the full story in English

>> اقرأ القصة كاملة باللغة العربية