Upcycling Becomes a 2024 Vegan Sustainability Trend

​In 2024, vegans will incorporate whole foods into their diet, explore fermentation, eat plant-based seafood, and include mushrooms in their entrées. Upcycling fruits and vegetables is another movement in veganism. Upcycling allows vegans to adhere to a meatless diet while contributing to sustainability.

Sustainability has become a priority for some in the food industry, making the conditions ripe for upcycling. In upcycling, consumers find uses for food, primarily produce, that they would discard. Therefore, upcycling recycles an item to create an item of greater value. For example, cooks can use imperfect or overripe fruits and vegetables, brew grains, and juice pulp to create products such as veggie burgers. Independently, each vegetable and fruit cost less than the meal one would make from these recycled items.

Typically, vegans upcycle by incorporating less-than-perfect produce ("salvage food") into their cooking or composting. Ideas for upcycling food include using beet or carrot tops to make braised greens and expired herbs to make flavored olive oil. In addition, overripe bananas can sweeten oatmeal, pancakes, and muffins. Individuals can turn orange peels and zest into orange relish. Cooks can make soup stock and vegetable lentil soup from unused vegetable parts.

In addition to cooking, upcycling produce for compost to use as a natural fertilizer to encourage plant growth also reduces food waste. Making compost begins with two compost bins, a small one for the kitchen and a large one for the outside. Cooks can place scraps into the small container, remembering not to add meat, fish, bones, dairy, fats, oil, and grease that attract rodents. When the small bin is full, they can transfer the scraps to the large bin. Grass clippings, yard trimmings, dry leaves, plant stalks, twigs, and other yard waste can also go into the large bin.

Upcyclers can create a compost pile outside without a bin, but it might attract nuisance critters. People without a yard may still compost. Contact your city or government office to see if they have a composting program. The office may provide residents with a composting bin that its waste management service collects on garbage days.

Next, upcycling offers consumers and communities multiple benefits. Repurposing discarded produce scraps reduces the amount of garbage that goes to landfills, and composting also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Upcycling generally protects the environment by reducing food waste. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that consumers discard 30 to 40 percent of food. This waste results in 6 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and, thus, global warming.

Another advantage of upcycling is saving money. Upcycling allows consumers to use every part of the produce. As grocery prices rose in 2023, people still desired healthy food, even on a budget. Consumers who upcycle decreased their trips to the grocery and their grocery bills. Additionally, companies specializing in salvage grocery products ship them directly to customers, with customers paying a discounted price.

Consumers also benefit because upcycling increases the amount of nutrients in produce, including vitamins and minerals. These antioxidants protect against disease. Carrot tops, for example, have six times more nutrients than the root and contain potassium, calcium, and phytonutrients, or compounds plants produce that provide health benefits.

Artemizia Walker-Chinoy

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