12k Tons of Dumped Orange Peel Grew into a Landscape Nobody Expected (2017) (sciencealert.com)

A Costa Rican experiment that dumped about 12,000 tonnes of waste orange peel on degraded land was shut down after legal action, but the buried nutrients helped the site regenerate into a dense forest over the next 16 years. Researchers comparing the area with an untreated control found higher soil quality, more tree biomass, and greater tree diversity, including strong carbon-sequestration potential. The study suggests the peel’s effects—possibly combined with reduced invasive grass and soil recovery—offer a cautionary but promising example for future conservation design.