One third of all the food we produce annually is wasted, this equates to an annual $240 billion loss in the United States (American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2020). However, it’s not just the act of wasting food, but all the resources that went into making, transporting, and packaging it that are wasted as well. The waste is taken to landfills where it decomposes and releases harmful greenhouse gasses. With the food system being responsible for one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, we must find ways to reuse our food waste and restore our environment. Biochar is a good alternative. It is a cost-efficient way to capture carbon from our atmosphere. It utilizes biomass including organic waste as feedstock, it is treated at high temperatures in an anaerobic environment most commonly through a process called pyrolysis. It can be used as soil amendment, wastewater treatment agent, feed supplement, soil remediation agent, among others. This project aims to repurpose food waste from the University of Florida’s dinning halls as biochar feedstock. This project will also compare the absorption and production rates of dry and moist feedstock using two different methods, pyrolysis and hydrothermal carbonization respectively. After the biochar has been produced it will be modified and used to target nitrogen and phosphorus contaminants found in Lake Alice. Afterwards the levels of contaminants will be measured and the biochar’s viability to be used as fertilizer will be assed.