Companies Are Finding New Ways to Use Waste and Fight Climate Change

Not long ago, the idea of harvesting almond shells and sewage sludge to lock away climate-harming emissions might have sounded like something out of a science fiction movie. Today, it’s not only possible — it’s happening.

A new wave of startups is turning agricultural waste and forest residues into permanent carbon dioxide removal using a process known as biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS). These BiCRS startups sell carbon credits to companies seeking an efficient and verifiable tool for achieving climate targets. Reducing emissions alone won’t be enough to reach net-zero and climate-related goals, so carbon dioxide removal is becoming an important long-term method for achieving them.

The concept behind BiCRS is simple: As plants and trees grow, they soak up planet-warming carbon and store it in their stems, leaves, roots and wood; this carbon-rich organic material is known as biomass. Usually, biomass carbon gets released back into the atmosphere when plants and trees decompose or are burned. But BiCRS interrupts that cycle, capturing and permanently storing the carbon underground, preventing carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere.

In recent years, new research and BiCRS companies have proliferated, finding novel ways to supplement the increasing challenges the planet faces to reduce emissions. Globally, BiCRS is gaining momentum; in Europe, recent legislation established a framework for carbon removal certification and an EU-wide registry (to be implemented in 2028), while other countries (like Japan and Canada) are investigating how to scale these technologies. In the U.S., there are a growing number of companies (one February 2025 report counts 40, the highest of any country) dedicated to turning biomass wastes and residues into carbon removal and storage.

Among them are Corigin, Charm Industrial, Graphyte and Vaulted Deep. These innovative companies, which we profile below, illustrate different approaches to using waste or residue biomass and storing it underground to fight back against a warming planet.

Corigin Solutions: Storing Carbon with Almond Shells

Corigin Solutions, located in Merced, Calif., is aiming to turn agricultural waste from a carbon source to a carbon sink by collecting waste from the roughly 1.5 million acres of almond and other fruit orchards in California’s Central Valley.

The magnitude of waste after harvest is massive. For example, roughly 3.8 billion pounds of almond shells are leftover in the region annually.

Every day, Corigin converts 8 tons of almond shells into usable products farmers can purchase to improve soil health, increase plant growth and reduce the need for fertilizers, while also sequestering some of the waste underground. The company uses a process called pyrolysis, in which the agricultural waste is heated to 887 degrees Fahrenheit without oxygen in a closed, controllable chamber. During this process, the shells vaporize and then cool, leaving behind a charcoal-like substance, called biochar, and a type of oil, called bio-oil.

So far, Corigin has produced 60 tons of what they call Corichar (their biochar product) for farmers and 18,000 liters of bio-oil for carbon storage. The process is relatively efficient, with each ton of biomass returning an 80% product yield broken down equally into biochar, Coriphol (their liquid fertilizer product) and bio-oil. Currently, there is some uncertainty over the long-term durability of biochar’s carbon sequestration, so Corichar is not credited for carbon removal, but rather sold as a soil additive for farmers.

The company is currently using only a small portion of almond shells, but is looking to scale up and expand to other types of agricultural wastes from walnuts, rice and citrus. Though the cost of bio-oil carbon dioxide removal is high, Corigin’s methods can provide alternative uses for agricultural waste, which is normally burned, and support a green business opportunity supporting local farmers and the community in Merced at large.

Charm Industrial: Flipping the Script on Oil Extraction

Charm Industrial is taking advantage of retired and abandoned oil wells left behind by oil and gas companies. Instead of pumping oil out from deep below the ground, Charm is returning carbon-rich oil generated by biomass from forestry and agricultural residues back underground to be sealed away.

Like Corigin, Charm relies on pyrolysis to turn residue biomass into bio-oil, but their approach to this is a bit unorthodox. Instead of one central facility, Charm is developing mobile pyrolizers, which are small enough to be transported to feedstock locations, enabling a faster market response and ability to reach locations without access to biomass processing. Each pyrolyzer produces 0.5 metric tons of bio-oil for each metric ton of biomass. Given the high cost of transporting biomass over long distances, this is a particularly important innovation for the BiCRS industry.

Charm currently uses residues, like branches and small logs from wildfire mitigation projects in western U.S. forests, but Charm is also testing other feedstocks, such as corn stover (the leaves, stalks and cobs left over after corn is harvested) and certain invasive species that are otherwise problematic for ecosystems. These feedstocks are turned into bio-oil on-site, which can then be much more easily transported to their injection sites.

Charm, like many other BiCRS companies, uses a third-party carbon registry, Isometric, to independently scrutinize their feedstocks to ensure that the carbon removal does not have unintended negative impacts on the climate or environment. As of 2025, Charm has sequestered almost 12,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).

The startup received $100 million in initial funding in 2023 and has since attracted carbon removal purchases from major companies, including tech giants and large banks. While there are still challenges for ensuring that carbon credits equate to real, permanent carbon sequestration, Charm focuses on transparency in its operations and is the first company to receive a higher-standard label by Isometric.

By using abandoned oil wells as injection sites, Charm is repurposing existing infrastructure for new, greener uses. For neighboring communities, each injection site employs eight to 10 people and can operate for up to 10 years, depending on reservoir properties.

There are some doubts about how bio-oil injection can scale; however, Charm’s fast and flexible approach makes it possible to deliver immediately on substantial carbon capture.

Graphyte: Finding a Simpler Storage Process

Graphyte, a carbon removal company in Arkansas, is using a simple, physical process to compress residues from local sawmill and rice hulls from local agriculture and then burying them underground. First, the biomass is dried extensively and condensed into solid blocks to reduce water and oxygen. Next, these bricks are sealed in a polymer barrier and stored in heavily monitored underground pits. While the barrier is designed to keep moisture and microbes away to prevent decomposition, the material of the barrier and how it performs long-term is undisclosed.

Unlike Charm and Corigin, this process doesn’t involve chemical transformation, keeping it simple, accessible and low-cost. Therefore, Graphyte can easily expand the feedstock types they use and deliver carbon removal quickly. After receiving $30 million in funding last year, Graphyte is expanding, expecting to remove nearly 50,000 tons of CO2 by early 2026. The company is also planning to open several more facilities in 2026 and 2027.

Because of their speed and simplicity, Graphyte is currently able to sell carbon credits, at $150/ton, an already-low number that may decrease as they expand. Graphyte’s first customer, American Airlines, purchased 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide removal in 2023.

Biomass burial is by far the simplest method, but the process is still very new and research is not as developed as other carbon dioxide removal methods. However, there are already standard practices and approaches to life-cycle assessments or monitoring, reporting and verification methods, which are common practices used to assure carbon removal is actually happening. Graphyte, whose carbon credits are issued by Isometric, adheres to their BiCRS protocol. Burial projects must be careful to evaluate the potential tradeoffs from disturbing large swaths of land. Graphyte minimizes land use impacts by using only degraded land for carbon storage, such as their Arkansas project which is sited on an old gravel mine.

Vaulted Deep: Locking Away Waste

Across the U.S., cities, agricultural areas and industrial facilities face growing volumes of organic waste, such as sewage and food waste, that don’t have safe methods for long-term disposal. Vaulted Deep is tackling some of these challenges by collecting and injecting wastes deep underground, locking away emissions and contaminants, such as PFAS (synthetic compounds known as “forever chemicals”) that can be harmful to human health.

Since 2008, the Houston-based company has diverted sludge away from disposal methods that pollute land and potentially impact groundwater. The sludge gets turned into a pumpable slurry and locked into a layer of rock deep below groundwater in a manner that does not cause seismic activity. The company currently injects 20% of Los Angeles’ biosolids from wastewater treatment centers, processing 65,000 tons per year.

Because there is minimal processing, Vaulted’s methods are energy-efficient and can operate with a variety of feedstocks, such as excess manure or paper sludge. At Vaulted’s flagship Great Plains facility in Kansas, the company repurposes old salt caverns for its safe geologic storage and provides a new reliable disposal solution for municipalities like the City of Derby and for nearby farmers who make more manure than can be productively applied to land.

In 2024, Vaulted Deep signed a large deal with the conglomerate Frontier, a group of large companies created to pool investments into carbon removal efforts, and secured a little over $30 million in venture capital funding. In July of this year, Vaulted also secured a 12-year deal with Microsoft to sequester almost 5 million tons of CO2, indicating the tech company is making a strong bet on Vaulted scaling up to deliver on these credits.

To date, Vaulted Deep has sequestered over 32,000 tons of CO2.

Considerations for the Future of BiCRS

Companies like Corigin, Charm, Graphyte and Vaulted Deep are beginning to achieve some initial success removing and storing carbon by using BiCRS. However, there is still a long way to go to supplement slowing or inadequate global emissions reductions.

The absence of sufficient policy support in the U.S. has made scaling carbon dioxide removal an uphill battle. Moreover, the lack of a singular standard and protocol for verification increases confusion among carbon market buyers. This is especially important considering the controversy in recent years about low-integrity carbon credits issued by non-reputable companies that has shaken confidence in the carbon market.

Additionally, industrywide, there is a long lag between purchase of carbon removals and delivery of climate impact. Of the 4 million tons of carbon sequestration that’s already been purchased by companies, only 2.6% of these credits have been delivered. The sector is still relatively new and many carbon removal technologies are complex. Most buyers have long timelines for carbon removal delivery, expecting sequestration to occur over many years. All carbon dioxide removal technologies carry a risk of contracting removals that never materialize.

BiCRS companies, however, benefit from relatively shorter timelines due to their ability to start storing carbon relatively quickly, compared to larger, more technologically intensive approaches like direct air capture .

Underlying all these concerns is the bigger question of who should be buying carbon credits in the first place. Some fear that over-reliance on carbon dioxide removal will take momentum away from necessary emissions reductions, and many argue that it should be reserved for only the hardest-to-abate sectors where emissions reductions are extremely challenging, like heavy industry or aviation.

Instead, large tech companies with deep pockets, who are trying to achieve their climate goals while opening up energy-intensive data centers, have been the major carbon credit buyers, which reflects the current high costs of credits. Moreover, the long timelines of delivery entail risks of companies claiming climate credits before they are actually realized. Policy support can make participation in carbon removal markets easier for buyers, like the UK’s plan to expand their emissions trading market to include carbon removals, but guardrails are needed to ensure BiCRS is deployed responsibly. As BiCRS scales, research and policy around appropriate guardrails must continue and evolve to avoid claims of greenwashing, which could discredit the industry.

There may also be some unintended consequences to BiCRS and climate impacts of diverting wastes from existing uses must be considered. Many BiCRS companies, including the ones highlighted, could face competition from other sectors who also use wastes and residues. Moreover, facing the challenge of reaching net-zero goals, sectors ranging from transportation and energy to chemicals and heavy industry are all prospecting how they can use biomass materials. This demand for biomass resources, without coordination, will likely far outstrip the sustainable supply, and could drive up prices.

Despite the many challenges, the emerging BiCRS sector is helping accelerate progress on carbon removal, offering simple ways to lock away the carbon stored in organic waste. The variety of approaches show flexibility, and a potential to scale to make meaningful contributions to mitigate climate change, especially in helping offset emissions from sectors that are difficult to decarbonize.