Compost-Turned Paint Toolkits

A team of researchers at Virginia Tech have developed the Sustainable Art Painting toolkit for children, which essentially takes food compost collected from American schools and turns it into watercolor paint. The project is led by an assistant professor of industrial design at the school, Yoon Jung Choi. The team created the toolkit to bring attention to the 90 billion pounds of food waste annually generated by schools in America.

The team spoke about the development, noting "Nearly 50 per cent of the food wasted in US schools consists of fruits and vegetables. Instead of treating these scraps as trash, we saw them as an untapped source of natural pigments. By reframing discarded fruits and vegetables as a valuable resource, we offer a sustainable alternative to conventional paints while empowering students to think critically about waste and sustainability."

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