In Amsterdam, Caffe Inc. is building a $4.4 million refinery to convert used coffee grounds into oils that can be used in personal care products like creams and shampoos, blocks that can be used in construction, and colorants for multiple commercial uses. Once operational, cofounders Josephine Nijstad and Evaluna Marquez expect the operations to reduce […]
In Boston, a startup pursuing whole-cut meats from plants has raised $12 million with participation from actress Natalie Portman. Formerly named Boston Meats, the company uses technology licensed from Harvard University to spin plant proteins into faux meat that resembles muscle cuts. To date, it has developed beef steaks, pulled pork and chicken breast. The […]
In San Francisco, precision fermentation firm The EVERY Co. has unveiled animal-free egg whites and will soon prove their alternative’s “whipping and gelling” properties versus regular eggs via a partnership with a noted macaron maker. According to The EVERY Co., EVERY EggWhite has the same height, foam stability, aeration and texture. Chantal Guillon, a San […]
In San Francisco, bee-free honey startup MeliBio has raised $7.5 million to scale and commercialize its technology. The company uses precision fermentation and plant science to manufacture honey. “We know that science can produce delicious and nutritious honey, which is molecularly identical to traditional honey, at no cost to our precious bees,” says honey industry […]
In Israel, a group of rabbis has said cheeseburgers made from lab-grown meat is kosher, having determined that the nascent technology does not constitute real meat. Kosher rules ordinarily prohibits the pairing of any meat and dairy product. World Israel News reports that it was determined that products based on cows’ pre-embryonic cells and grown […]
In India, this year’s Holi celebrations were as colorful as ever, but at the same time greener, thanks to Phool.co. The Kampur-based startup is converting floral waste into the vibrant gulaal powders festival-goers toss about during the festival to celebrate the arrival of spring. “Generally, gulaal is made using asbestos even glass all those chemical […]
In Germany, cultivated meat startup Alife Foods hopes to launch a lab-grown version of schnitzel by 2025. Alife is currently doing “sensory evaluations” for its animal-free schnitzel, which contains cultivated beef, wheat protein, wheat flour, vegetable oil and methylcellulose and was developed in collaboration with Fuchs Group and US-based LabFarmFoods. Notably, Alife is using plant-based […]
In Texas, Dell Technologies has launched a prototype laptop featuring biobased components as it looks to increase product content and packaging from recycled or renewable materials as one lever for cutting emissions in half by 2030. The prototype is part of Concept Luna, a “parallel innovation workstream” with Intel aimed at accelerating circular design in […]
In San Diego, Genomatica has announced a partnership with Japan’s Asahi Kasei, which aims to use Genomatica’s GENO HMD process to manufacture biobased hexamethylenediamine for production of nylon 6,6 for automotive and electronics industries. The pact comes shortly after Genomatica announced in January that, together with German chemical company Covestro, it had produced “significant” volumes […]
In Norway, a startup has developed a road repair process that uses recycled asphalt and a proprietary plant-based adhesive that sequesters carbon, offering a greener alternative for the particularly polluting road construction market. The company—appropriately named Carbon Crusher—starts by grinding up existing asphalt from stretches of road in need of repair. This reduces the emissions […]
