As it metabolizes, the bacteria converts food scraps into a biodegradable called Polyhydroxyalkanoate, or simpler, PHA.Ī reactor growing PHA is photographed at the Genecis lab (Supplied). That bacteria consumes sugars and fatty acids from the organic waste.

It's almost like brewing beer, right? All you have to do is to actually feed food waste as a sort of energy source or food to bacteria,” Yu explained.

The makeshift gadget she created as a fresh University of Toronto graduate emulated the aim of her company-to-be, Genecis. “We went out to Canadian Tire and bought a couple of rice cookers, and then we actually retrofitted the rice cookers and made them into bioreactors ourselves,” Yu told CTV News Toronto. At the time, her budget was dismal and approach was scrappy – but creative, as she put it. Luna Yu, CEO and founder of Genecis, says she dove into the bioplastics world at 22-years-old. Amazon invested a portion of a $2-billion climate fund earlier this month in a company created by a 28-year-old Toronto scientist who turns food scraps into alternative plastics.

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