ExplainerSeptember 15, 2026
An Enzyme From a Compost Heap Cuts Polyurethane. Slowly.
A Danish team found a bacterial enzyme that cleaves untreated polyurethane foam and nylon with no pretreatment. Three days of it removed 1.4 percent of a shoe sole.
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Explainers, teardowns, and myth-busting on waste management systems and green engineering.
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ExplainerSeptember 13, 2026
AIST's ABCS Reactor: Splitting Digestion in Two to Stop It Souring
Japan's AIST reports a two-stage anaerobic digestion design that keeps acid production and methane production in separate vessels. The concept is decades old; the claim is that this configuration holds up at high loading.
ExplainerSeptember 12, 2026
Marine Microbes Turning Food Waste Into Protein: Good Biology, Unresolved Regulation
A Chinese research group reports converting food waste into single-cell protein using salt-tolerant marine microorganisms. The salt tolerance is a genuine engineering advantage. Feed approval is where this stalls.
ExplainerSeptember 9, 2026
Black Soldier Flies Convert Food Waste Fast. The Constraint Is the Law.
Larvae turn organic waste into protein in about two weeks with high conversion efficiency. Whether that protein can legally be fed to anything is decided by regulation, not by biology.