Canadian students try to give lowly potato peel a future in furniture

A company started by six Mount Allison students in the province of New Brunswick in Canada, sees a place for potato peels in furniture, flooring and ceiling tiles. Enviroot’s goal is to reduce waste by using food remains, especially potato peelings, to make a safe material for use in the home. The company received a national business prize of $20,000 from Enactus Canada, a student-led entrepreneurial organization, and the McCain Social Enterprise Project Partnership to get the project going this summer. “We use the potato peels that we get from McCain Foods here in New  Brunswick in our particle board as a kind of filler,” said Justin Trueman, Enviroot CEO and fourth-year biology student. The potato peels are plasticized by melting them a little bit, and a bond between the potato peels’ particles is created. “When we found out there was a partnership available through Enactus Canada and McCain Foods, we started thinking about how we can make something viable out of something McCain has to offer,” Trueman said. More