What’s Brewing on the Compost Front
By Mary Dudley, CGC Ecology Education Manager
Stay tuned…the Civic Garden Center is ramping up our compost game in a BIG way!
This fall, we’ll install two state-of-the-art Earth Cube compost systems (designed by Green Mountain Technologies) as well as four highly efficient Johnson-Su bioreactors on our grounds. In addition to demonstrating the latest in compost tech, the objective of this project is to establish a compost collection site at the CGC.
Why We’re Upping Our Compost Game
Doing more composting on our grounds is a step toward helping divert organic waste from the landfill while providing organic material to improve community and school gardens in the greater Cincinnati region. The project will also showcase innovative and emerging technologies in the field of solid waste management, educate the public on the importance of reducing food waste and create a culture of composting in the region through partnerships and collaborations. And we’ll be using the Earth Cubes and bioreactors for research opportunities, tracking the temperature and amount of time it takes to break down the material. The final compost product will be donated to our community gardeners to further their education, enhance their garden productivity and positive ecological impact within their communities.
How It’ll Work
Our project will serve community members who donate their food waste to the CGC, community and school gardeners who will apply the finished amendment to their garden spaces and the visitors and staff of the CGC who will interact with installed educational signs. Installing these new compost systems will enable our gardening community to access vital nutrients for their gardens while diverting organic waste from the landfill and providing opportunities for learning.
Each Earth Cube vessel is capable of accepting 50 pounds of organic material daily—a significant amount! Each bioreactor can accept 7 pounds of organic material daily. Combined across all the new systems, that’s up to 128 pounds of organic waste diverted from the landfill daily. Having multiple vessels means one can be actively accepting new material while the others mature.
Thank You to Our Partners!
The following partners are working with us to help make this compost dream a reality:
Hamilton County R3Source has provided funding for the project.
Morrison Healthcare will collect and donate food waste from their cafeteria at UC Health on a regular basis.
When Our Harvest customers pick up their weekly community supported agriculture (CSA) food shares, they will have the opportunity to donate unwanted produce from past weeks’ shares to the active Earth Cube and bioreactors on our grounds.
We thank Gary Dangle from Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation and Marie Hopkins from Queen City Commons for their support in this project.
We eager await the arrival of our new Earth Cubes and bioreactors—invite you to join the compost party when they do!