Vegetables growing in water at The Plant, Chicago
© Plant Chicago, NFP/Rachel Swenie

How “The Plant” in Chicago Inspired Me

You may have heard that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Headed by John Edel, the team at The Plant in Chicago is putting this concept to work—in farming. Their creative problem solving is directed at achieving truly sustainable food production.

Housed in a former meatpacking plant building, The Plant is an indoor vertical farm with a closed-loop production model. How does it work?

Aquaponics

First, there is an aquaponics system which occupies one-third of the former factory. Fresh-water tilapia fish are raised in large tanks. The fish produce waste, which becomes watery fertilizer for the vegetable plants growing nearby in hydroponic beds. In absorbing the fertilizer, the plants clean the water, which is then returned to the fish tanks. The fish help the plants; the plants help the fish.

Tilapia thrive in water cleaned by the vegetable plants.
© Plant Chicago, NFP/Rachel Swenie

Tea, Mushrooms, Beer

But aquaponics is just part of the system, which also connects food productions in other sustainable ways. For example:

Outdoor garden and factory building at The Plant Chicago
© Plant Chicago, NFP/Rachel Swenie

• The Plant brews kombucha, a fermented tea. The staff plans to connect the growing room to the fermenting room so that the air can circulate between them. The brewing process absorbs oxygen produced by the vegetable plants, and it gives back carbon dioxide that the plants need. Some estimates show that this carbon dioxide will improve plant growth up to 20%.
• Mushrooms were selected for production because they are natural decomposers that thrive on the waste from the fish and the plants.
• Eventually beer brewing will be added to the system. The grains left over from brewing are a waste product that can be used for fish food and mushroom bedding.

Not all the waste is currently being used. And that’s where the Digester comes in.

The Digester

An anaerobic digester is being installed to “consume” excess food, human, and fish waste. It will produce methane gas which will be converted to energy to run the growing lights and fish filters, as well as to provide heat and electricity.

In all the digester will keep 10,000 tons of waste a year out of landfills.

Oh, and one more part of the creative problem solving: All of The Plant’s food products provide healthy meals, cooked and served by small food businesses in other parts of the building.

Jim Parks of Today’s Green Minute summarizes in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMBxJTQqnRI

If video does not display, watch it here.

Closing Loops At Home

My OIC moment from The Plant? It is inspiring to see an urban, zero-waste model of food production, but it also inspired me to recognize several examples of “closed-loop” problem solving in my own life:

• Donating construction materials I don’t need to the waste management site; obtaining wood chips from them to put in my yard.
• Giving moving boxes to a friend who needs them; receiving things like craft paper and yarn that she doesn’t want to move.
• Feeding food scraps to the worms in my worm bin; harvesting the fertilizer they produce and using it to grow more fruits and vegetables.

Just as plants grow 20% better because of the input of the kombucha, our communities grow stronger and stay cleaner when we practice this closed-loop problem solving!

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.