The entire planet shares a growing love affair with chocolate. Each year world chocolate consumption rises three percent. According to USA Today, Americans consume almost 12 pounds of chocolate per year. With such a popular food product, there is bound to be waste and lots of it in the form of chocolate past its sell-by date. What can we do with all this chocolate waste? If we don’t manage it, then it will all inevitably end up in our landfills.

Managing Chocolate Waste

With forms of biodiesel like e85 effecting the cost of livestock feed prices, some cows in Nova Scotia are now eating chocolate and candy waste product according to CBC News. CBC News states, “The chocolate and candies go into a chopper, where they’re mixed with other byproducts, such as barley and wheat dust.” While this solution has a positive impact on the environment by preventing tons of organic waste from reaching our landfills - we must ask ourselves if this is the best solution? What are the health implications for the animals and then in turn for the humans who consume them?

A Better Solution

British biodiesel producer Ecotec has developed a process for converting waste chocolate into bioethanol fuel. In December of 2007, a 4,500 mile trek from the UK to Mali, West Africa was completed in the BioTruck. The entire BioTruck journey was powered by waste chocolate based bioethanol. How many bars of chocolate were needed to complete this trek? About 80,000.

Bioethanol from organic waste product such as chocolate is a much more environmentally sound choice than e85. Why? Using organic waste for fuel means we won’t inadvertently be driving up food prices. We also won’t need to clear-cut entire forests to plant ethanol crops.

With a growing global population, it is important for us all to do our part in minimizing our carbon footprints. While chocolate may not be the final answer, converting organic waste into usable fuel can reduce landfill waste, reduce our need for other fossil fuels and minimize the risk of driving up food prices.