Desert farmers may have found an unexpected ally in a tropical fruit: the pineapple. Researchers at Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa University have transformed pineapple waste from the food industry into a soil amendment that improves desert soil’s ability to retain water and nutrients by more than 30%. The approach could help deserts grow more food while recycling vast amounts of waste.
“The more we remediate deserts, the more biomass will be available to remediate more desertic soil,” says study lead author Blaise Leopold Tardy.
To test their idea, the team collected pineapple peels from local hospitality businesses and processed them through shredding, bleaching, alkali treatment, and ball-milling—a technique that breaks material into fine fibers. These residues were mixed into three types of sandy soil typical of arid regions, which usually contain very little organic matter.
The researchers experimented with different concentrations and fiber sizes, from coarse fragments to nanofibers invisible to the eye. Of all the fiber types and concentrations, they found the sweet spot when they dosed the soil with a tiny amount of the nanocellulose fibers, replacing just 0.25% to 2% of the sand with nanofiber fragments of pineapple waste.
This vanishingly small quantity completely transformed the soil.Treated soils slowed water drainage by 58% and boosted water retention by up to 32.7% compared with untreated controls. Evaporation fell by half. The soils also held onto twice as much phosphorus fertilizer, ensuring nutrients and moisture stayed available to plants longer—key factors for crop survival in sandy environments.
When the team grew cherry tomato seedlings in the amended soil, the plants thrived: they had more branches, more leaves, and higher survival rates. The benefits, however, peaked at low fiber concentrations—above 3%, the improvements declined.
The nanofibers’ impact appears long-lasting. “We have stabilized sand samples that are two years old now and they seem as good as when we first made them,” says Tardy. In deserts, where microbes are scarce, the fibers decompose slowly, maintaining soil structure over time.
Ultimately, Tardy hopes the method can transform both deserts and waste management. “Most of the waste biomass in arid areas is currently landfilled. This is a massive loss,” he says. Recycling food waste into soil amendments could “contribute to desert restoration” across the Middle East and North Africa.
“My biggest hope,” he adds, “is really seeing green bins at the domestic and industrial levels everywhere in arid areas to maximize the circular use of green ‘wastes.’”
Tardy et. al. “Evaluating nanocellulose from food waste as a functional amendment for sandy soils: Linking fiber structure to water dynamics, soil mechanics, and plant-microbes interactions.” Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts. 2025.
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