Two Alberta businesses have found value in the rescue of spent grain, a byproduct of the brewing process. Such products illustrate the previously overlooked value of food waste.

With the explosion of craft brewing comes a food waste problem. Spent grain accounts for about 85 per cent of brewing byproduct. Big breweries generate thousands of tonnes daily that is sold or given away as animal feed. Craft breweries, especially those in urban areas, don’t produce enough to make its distribution as feed financially viable. They have little choice, but to dispose of it as compost.