Second annual [Re]verse Pitch competition closes

The city’s second annual [Re]verse Pitch competition kicked off this October to find the local business or nonprofit with the best idea for repurposing someone else’s unwanted materials. This year’s winner, a “social entrepreneur team” called GrubTubs, won $10,000 on Tuesday night with a proposal to join up with the Central Texas Food Bank to make livestock feed from “inedible” canned foods. Doing so involves feeding that food to Black Soldier Fly larvae, in a process that is as intriguing as it is gnarly. “This could be a game-changer, all because these hungry grubs can use excess nutrients that are no longer fit for human consumption,” explained GrubTubs’ Robert Oliver. “Now your donations to the food bank will benefit our local chicken farmers as well.” A similar project, called GRUB, won second place, which was “a combination of business education prizes valued at $750.”