Food-waste as
a value-stream.
Bacterial fermentation of food-waste allows for PHA bioplastic production.
Anaerobic Digestion (AD): A historic agricultural solution, optimized.
[BIG WORD ALERT] POLYHYDROXYALKANOATES (PHA) is a category of bioplastic that is a readily compostable, biodegradable thermoplastic produced by microbial fermentation of carbon-based feedstocks.
With properties of PHA that are customizable to varying applications, this bioplastic has been FDA evaluated and may provide packaging solutions, and unique fertilizer dispensing capabilities.
Producing this material at the SEED allows for significant reductions in waste and allows for new market entry products for agriculture and food-industries.
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"Organic" meaning biological, biodegradable.
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"Fractionated" meaning separated from other types of organic waste, separating away from landscape trimmings, sewage, and other organic waste streams that may contain inorganic contaminants or pathogens.
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"Municipal Solid Waste" meaning a collected waste stream from municipal sectors like groceries, food processors, and consumers. Seedling evaluates specific sources of OFMSW from farm customers & partners.
33 MILLION TONS.
This was the annual amount of food-waste in America in 2010.
This biochemical feedstock is inherently distributed by population concentration.
Organic Fractionated Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW)
Duckweed fermentation for improved biogas yields & nutrient balance.
Found in aquatic environments around the world, "Lemnacaea" aka, duckweed is a species of rapid growth plant that requires only light to treat contaminated water. Duckweed produces high levels of protein while concentrating nitrogen and phosphorous. A multi-task tool, duckweed is grown as a pre-filter to post-hydroponic streams to extract excess nutrients; as a harvested asset duckweed is fermented and dehydrated prior to anaerobic digestion. This allows for greater biogas yields, as well as improved carbon-nitrogen balances in extracted nutrients for fertilizer production.
In aquaculture, duckweed has also been pelleted as a source of fish-feed and pose opportunity to enable aquacultural environments that more closely replicate natural waterways.
Returning value from a waste-stream back into regional organic agricultural growth.
Anaerobic digestion (AD), the biological decomposition of organic material in an oxygen-free environment, has been used for centuries and perfected over decades to produce biogas for energy production. Over recent years AD has produced organic-certified fertilizers, but public concern over unavoidable residual environmental contaminents (UREC) concentrating into food sources has cast a shadow on this valuable technology.
Seedling, through regional academic partnerships associated with each SEED, monitors and sequesters UREC substances through a transparent, blockchain-secured network of sensors that detect and analyze synthetic and biological substances.
Each SEED is designed to leverage AD systems to produce the energy needed by the SEED for all on-site operations. This also provides the source of precision fertilizer formulations for both hydroponic and soil-based agriculture.
Organic precision fertilizers designed for regional farmers that seek to transition to organic certification.
Each SEED provides a precision fertilizer subscription package for regional farmers that seek to transition to organic-certified farming practices. By utilizing in-field soil diagnostics, each SEED formulates a unique composition of nutrients that are both soil responsive and crop specific. Formulated in both liquid and solid application methods, SEED-produced fertilizers work with natural soil variations to maintain a healthy biome, rather than eutrophication of soils. Precision application of fertilizers aides in the reduction of nutrient runoff that can cause catastrophic downstream effects and algae blooms in waterways.
Organic transition periods are economically challenging for farmers, for this reason each SEED leverages urban purveyor channels to aid in sales and distribution of subscription-farm produce for the duration of the farm's transition to organic. This brokerage service, paired with zero-emissions food-trucks leased to urban chefs allows for each SEED to directly target urban food-deserts with locally grown food that has been fertilized organically by food-waste derived nutrient profiles. Combined with PHA packaging solutions, this closed-loop system allows for any unsold food provided by the SEED to be directly returned to the SEED for reformulation.
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Within this cycle of biochemical channeling, Seedling targets biomass carbon sequestration as the greatest quantifiable benefit, followed by socioeconomic enhancements to both rural and urban populations through the decentralization of agricultural economic growth.