Scientists at Costa Rica’s National Laboratory of Nanotechnology (LANOTEC) are extracting nanocellulose from the peel and stubble of pineapple waste to be used in pharmaceutical, food and medical applications. Costa Rica alone generates about 4.5 million tons of crop residues from Pineapple production every year. The crop waste is also being developed as a feedstock to produce rosette like silica-based microparticles for fertilizer applications.