We are delighted to award a £37,879 grant to Calthorpe Community Garden to fund the project and staffing cost for their Closed Loop Waste Recycling & Food Production Mico System. Seeing the closed loop cycle in action makes it easier for people to grasp and understand ecosystems, our dependence on natural resources and how we can manage them more sustainably.
The loop consists of a hydroponic greenhouse, clean energy, food production and waste recycling facility, including an anaerobic digester which produces liquid fertiliser and biogas. The project engages local volunteers to work on all stages of the cycle: composting, plant and food growing, hydroponics, harvesting and cooking. It will directly benefit:
* 12 members of the Bangladeshi womens gardening group (40-70 yrs)
* 12 members of the disabled gardening group (25-45 yrs)
* 12 members of community composting scheme (20-70yrs)
* 35 college & secondary school students (16-24 yrs)
* 12 local volunteers gaining work experience
* 25 members older people’s gardening group (55+)
We are looking forward to seeing the toolkit that Calthorpe develops, based on monitoring and evaluation outcomes of the Closed Loop Waste Recycling & Food Production Mico System, which will be available for other groups who might wish to implement their own system.
IMAGE: © Ingimar Erl – This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.