22422145.jpgWe turn food into calories several times a day, so why not machines? Of course, that's a pretty silly argument.

Well, maybe not. UK's National Society for Clean Air said that food waste is organic and can produce clean-burning biogas. AHN News reports that in a controlled environment leftover food "can produce natural gas made up of 60 percent methane and 40 percent carbon dioxide, when left to decompose in an area with little oxygen". When exposed to landfills, similar gases can have a highly detrimental effect on the eco-system. However, if the same organic trash undergoes a process called anaerobic digestion, it can be safely converted into renewable energy "used for providing fuel, heat and light."

While practical applications of turning leftover food into energy is still minimal, UK, Europe's largest producer of biofuels, already procures 650 megawatts of electricity by way of anaerobic digestion.