Just as Rumpelstiltskin spun gold from straw, scores of new companies are trying to spin profits out of food waste.
Several start-ups are chasing ways to use food waste to make other edibles. Some are aiming to quickly distribute food that is about to be thrown out. And yet others are working to use every last ounce of ingredients.
Food waste, in other words, is now a platform for commerce. 鈥淚鈥檓 convinced there鈥檚 a business that鈥檚 a kind of Uber for refrigerated trucks,鈥� said Jesse Fink, a founder of the travel site Priceline who now calls himself a food waste evangelist.
The businesses have a lot to work with. As much as 40 percent of the American food supply goes in the trash. Most of the waste comes from consumers and retailers, the government estimates, and in recent years, the issue has resonated,聽particularly with younger consumers.
The business of food waste is not well tracked; most data available now is on funding for individual companies. But Back to the Roots, which is based in Oakland, Calif., and sells products like a mushroom-growing kit that uses coffee grounds, recently raised $5.8 million from individual investors like Michael Pollan and Blake Mycoskie. EcoScraps, which is based in Utah, and turns food waste into gardening products, has raised $13 million from Peterson Ventures and others, according to CB Insights, a research firm.
鈥淥ver the last year, we鈥檝e seen investors put millions of dollars into early-stage brands that appeal to consumers based on their sustainability and transparency,鈥� said Rory Eakin, chief operating officer of CircleUp, a marketplace for investors and early-stage consumer brands.
He cited examples like the Forager Project, Misfit and Back to the Roots. 鈥淢any of these emerging brands incorporate food waste and upcycling products鈥� 鈥� using once-discarded materials as components of new products 鈥� 鈥渁s part of their brand portfolio.鈥� Others, he said, are working to solve the unusual distribution and logistics challenges posed in using food scraps.
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