No Fairytale, Clothing Made From Dairy Waste
Mi Terro Takes Sustainable Clothing to a New Level
Robert Luo is a wizard in the biotech industry. He founded Mi Terro, a biotech business that concocts protein fiber from disposed of milk waste, and his innovation has the potential to transform the fabric industry.
Robert first observed his uncle’s farm in China, where one of the biggest problems was that there was a lot of dairy waste. He saw bucket after bucket of spoilt milk being dumped into the ground. This observation led him to establish Mi Terro, a biotechnology company that reengineers spoilt milk and turns it into a sustainable fiber.
He strongly believes that his fiber can be a substitute for plastics used in medical, fashion, and farming industries. His idea solves the waste issue while also providing a bio-degradable alternative for plastic. This is reflected in Mi Terro’s motto, ‘Comes from Nature and Ends with No Trace’.
Mi Terro recovers leftover milk from dairy farms and skims it before dewatering the product to change the liquid into powdered milk. It is then dissolved and purified to remove bacteria, or bad casein.
Milk Made Fabrics
Raw materials that usually add more tolerance like Tencel and bamboo are often expensive to manufacture when compared to cotton and other petroleum-based fibers. It is also a fact that petrochemical-based textiles have long-lasting, sweat-absorbent attributes and even offer stretchiness which eco-friendly base fabrics lack. The start-up has claimed to address this issue by making fibers stronger and more durable. The fibers also have moisture-wicking and are relatively inexpensive to manufacture. They are even cheaper to produce than regular cotton fabric.
100% Vegetable and Plant-Based Packing Film
The company also manufactures durable and highly sustainable flexible packing materials to eliminate plastic film manufacturing. The company and its founder Robert Luo, envision a time when the materials can be returned to nature after their use. Their film are known to be home and ocean compostable, and for being five times cheaper than other bio-based film material.
Milk waste collection has accelerated, with more farmers contributing to the effort. The output has been positive, with the resulting milk byproduct providing comfortable and high quality fiber used to make t-shirts, underwear, and even face masks during pandemic.
The problem of food waste is challenging, with about 1.3 million tons of vegetables and food discarded worldwide annually. Along with the food is the plastic packing film of up to 78 million tons.
Learn more about https://www.miterro.com/ and share to inspire others.
