How a Scarborough facility is converting food waste into biodegradable plastics

Designer bags and cellphone cases don't usually conjure images of leftover spaghetti — but at a facility in Scarborough, these things are related.

Genecis Bioindustries uses bacteria to convert food waste destined for the landfill into biodegradable plastics. Luna Yu, CEO, says the substance the company makes is called polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), and it works similarly to most plastics. The product can be used to make things like cutlery, cups and textiles.

"We basically were looking at how much food waste was going to landfills and we thought why don't we repurpose that food waste into something that's a lot more valuable and better for the planet," she said.

The company's website says when the product reaches the end of it's useful life it can be composted within a month, and if it does find it's way into the ocean, it degrades within a year.

Yu says the company launched four years ago, and has grown to a 10,000-square-foot facility.

The City of Toronto says it encourages innovations that reduce both the amount of food waste going to landfills and the amount of food waste generated, and that its green bin program helps to keep waste out of landfills by collecting and processing organics into material that can be used to create compost used to feed soil.

"When creating new products, whether it be from food waste or other materials, it's important to consider the impacts of the whole lifecycle of that product, including how it's disposed of and whether or not it is compatible with municipal disposal systems," a statement from Solid Waste Management Services said.

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks says Ontario is working on a proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by phasing out the amount of food waste going to landfills by 2030. It says that with over one third of Ontario's waste stream made up of organic waste, including food waste and scraps, it is critical to continue exploring ways to prevent these materials from ending up in landfills.

Environmental organizations like Greenpeace, however, say while it supports innovation that benefits the environment, it would rather see single-use packaging like shampoo bottles eliminated altogether.

"Solutions that are focused on taking products and creating single-use products aren't really the solutions we're looking for," said Laura Yates, plastics campaigner with Greenpeace Canada. 

"They don't challenge our current system, they perpetuate our reliance on convenient single-use and disposable materials, delaying what must be our inevitable shift to more sustainable systems."

Yates says there should be a greater focus on going package free, reducing overall consumption and eliminating food waste.

"We don't need to think of ways to better throw away food that retailers don't want to sell, we need to stop that waste from happening at all," Yates said.

Mike Chopowick, CEO of the Ontario Waste Management Association says Ontario generates about 3.7 million tonnes of food waste a year and currently, about 1.1 million tonnes of that waste is being diverted from the landfill.