Corny, But True: Making Fuel at the Grocery Store

Summertime and the living is easy. Picnics, BBQs, cookouts, fresh fruits and vegetables. Summer comes with a lot of edible perks. Corn on the cob--yummy!

My most recent trip to the grocery store showed me another, when I was greeted with this bin, right next to to the table of corn I was grabbing for that night's dinner. Typically we shuck our corn at home, but this had me at "turning corn husks into renewable energy," and left me wanting to learn more.

What I discovered is that I've apparently been living under a rock and this technology has been around for about a decade. While I'm not the primary grocery shopper in my house, I will say I am 100% sure this circular waste collection piece hasn't been in the shopping marker that long. The corn husks and stalks are called "corn stover" and they are one of the many agricultural parts that make up biofuel. Reusing this agricultural waste is one of many ways to get there.

When you think of summer time and picnicking and you think of the vegetable waste alone, what a brilliant idea to have grocery stores starting to insert themselves in the process. 

Reminds me of my composting days (before the neighborhood rodents started using our french drain in the backyard like the sewers of Paris!)

Of course, there are many proponents who urge you not to do this in the store due to moisture loss and other reasons, so you do you. But I love it when circular economy is put to use.

To learn more about corn waste as a biofuel, check out this video or go toWashington State University's May 2025 article "Scientists Discover a New Way to Convert Corn Waste into Low-Cost Sugar for Biofuel."

Video from https://youtu.be/-AbjfwIhrV0?si=0E3TPGFY-VG_hpVZ, Pics from my camera.