Banana peel coasters? Michigan is turning food waste into something useful

Inside the historic Book Depository at Michigan Central, now home to Newlab’s innovation campus, Brittanie Dabney is quietly building a different kind of startup. Her company, EcoSphere Organics, doesn’t make apps or mobility tech. It makes biodegradable coasters out of banana peels. Dabney and her team collect food scraps from local restaurants like Alchemy and Johnny’s Speakeasy—coffee grounds, citrus rinds, and eggshells—and process them into small-batch products like compostable...