Youth Innovation Challenge

IXIM - Using your waste to create change!

Daniel Gonzalez and Noor-ur-Rahman Shaikh

Imagine that your bricks, interior walls of any space and furniture are made from corn stem, rice husk or beans pod. If you already did it, I introduce you to the project “IXIM”; a sustainable material that is also 100% biodegradable and aims to replace masonry blocks and furniture pieces. These type of blocks, use mainly two types of raw materials (any of the fibers named above, and a natural binder extracted from the aquaculture industry). The core value of the project is, on one hand, to leverage these types of agro-industrial residues to generate new channels of revenues for fisheries and farm workers. On the other hand, it is to develop environmentally friendly materials to avoid and reduce the use of timber and mined aggregates for the furniture and construction industries respectively.

The material (product) seeks to be environmentally friendly because it reduces the incineration of agricultural waste. Additionally, it sequestrates carbon dioxide in the blocks composition, and it goes through a composting process after the end of its useful life.

These types of bricks have been developed to be useful in the Low Carbon Building (LCB) sector. Likewise, more types of fibers will be introduced to encourage the use of local materials and reduce the cost of transport distance.

Also depending on the fiber selected for its composition, it is worth highlighting, that the properties of each block may vary depending on the type of fiber used. For example, the texture of the corn stem blocks looks similar to wood, unlike to the rice husk that resemble a stone texture. In addition, the size of the blocks and their weight vary after the drying process is carried out.

Accordingly, it seems that the most important advantages provided by this type of blocks are:

• Take advantage of agro-industrial and aquaculture waste to make a unique and innovative material
• Reduce the cost of distance
• Easier to load and transport because the material weight is lighter than traditional bricks
• Biodegradable and non-polluting
• Provide social, economic and environmental benefit to local communities
• Generate post-consumption savings by going through a composting process instead of traditional treatment processes

Daniel Luna López, Omar Venancio Sánchez Animas, and Andrés Gutiérrez Castillo

Animal nutrition through transformation of organic waste

It is estimated that in Mexico 105 thousand tons of organic waste are generated daily, of these only 11% are given an adequate use. In order to address the inefficiency in the organic recycling sector, the “NUTRIORGANIC” feed was created, a product designed to promote an efficient recycling of organic waste, which through the use of technology is processed and transformed obtaining an added value, allowing generating a product of high quality, profitability, which is also committed to the environment.

Nutriorganic is a mixture of organic ingredients, which uses avocado waste, it is estimated on average that each farmer generates a total of 200 tons of these residues, they inform us that they do not give any use to these, We use all the avocado that contains antioxidant compounds , unsaturated fatty acids and contains 60% starch. We occupy the egg shells discarded by the pastry companies to obtain a lactulose prebiotic. On the other hand; Insect meal, which is obtained from the larva of the soldier fly, is used as the main source of protein. One of the properties of the most popular insect meal, is that it has more than 60% protein and an optimal energy level is also rich in vitamins B12 as well as high levels of minerals, these insects are grown in various types of waste organic, which are previously treated by a predigestión, with this we can recover up to 80% of the nutrients that are contained in the organic waste.

Nutriorganic through the use of avocado, which is rich in antioxidants which allows these compounds to achieve a long shelf life of the product. According to its nutritional composition based mainly on insect meal allows an excellent assimilation of nutrients and better bioavailability that is reflected in the growth and development of animals, obtaining greater efficiency in productivity in the livestock sector at lower cost . In the end, a balanced feed of organic origin is obtained, with a high percentage of protein, which when obtained by biological treatments of recyclable material has a higher nutritional value and a lower price than similar products on the market, thus, with a only action is achieved two objectives: to prevent waste contaminate and produce quality food for animals. By using the waste produced by the food industry we managed to close the cycle of the value chain, managing to reintegrate a large part of co-products, which traditionally are not well used, so we try to give sustainability to the food industry of meat.

Generating an economic value to organic waste we make society and industries take more into account the separation of garbage, since currently there is not a good culture of waste classification, it is to emphasize that garbage has a value if it is separated , but if the organic is mixed with the inorganic, it loses its value, because it is contaminated, so there is no alternative but to bury it in landfills; With our initiative we want to solve these problems. The green marketing of our product allows us to host more niche markets, since many of our customers are farmers who preserve ecological care or who want to comply with certifications related to the environment and organic origin.

A non-chemical alternative to pesticides for strawberry farms

Adam Stager, Ray Zayas, and Vishnu Somasundaram

More pesticides are used on strawberries than any other produce. With an average of 22 pesticide residues remaining when you buy strawberries in the market, it’s no surprise that they are number one on the Dirty Dozen. For a fruit that makes up 1/3 of the US berry industry, there must be a more health and environmentally conscious way of treating pests.

Using UV-C light in place of chemicals, we offer a sustainable alternative to pesticides. Today farmers using pesticides may have to treat their field many times to eliminate a pathogen and to make things worse, post-treatment no-entry/no-harvest periods can lead to a direct loss in revenue. With our solution farmers can eliminate the risks and uncertainties of chemical methods.

We plan to offer our treatment service to strawberry farmers by deploying UV-C light with an automated platform similar to a Roomba. Instead of cleaning carpets our solution would run up and down strawberry rows shining UV-C light to kill pathogens. Farmers can increase profit by as much as 10% by labeling their fruit as non-chemical and because our treatment is an operating expense it is tax-deductible. Results have been demonstrated at the Appalachian Fruit Research Station and pathogens treated effect other produce allowing us to scale into parallel markets. The broader impacts include healthier food for customers, reduced application of pesticides in food production, and more sustainable strawberry farming with fewer environmental impacts to local communities.