Feb 4, 2022
Indoor Victory Garden Report: 2021
Back before we moved into the firehouse, we had begun experimenting with folks other than ourselves growing in our indoor aquaponic farm....
Dec 11, 2021
Anaerobic Digestion at Plant Chicago: Part 1
Following a collaboration with Loyola University Chicago (LUC) engineering students - Anna Zachary, Valentine Geze, and Brooke McDonald -...
May 11, 2021
Waste Audits: Do You Know What You're Throwing Out?
Coming into the year 2020, Plant Chicago set a goal of diverting from the landfill 90% of the ‘waste’ generated across its programs. This...
Oct 6, 2020
Measuring Local Economic Impact
How to measure impact? That was the challenge I faced while developing Plant Chicago’s inaugural impact report for its Circular Economy...
Sep 24, 2020
Using worms and fungi to compost packaging
Oyster mushroom fragment in hydrated packaging material. Compostable food packaging – those beige colored forks and spoons, or clamshells...
Sep 17, 2020
Waste System Comparison: US & India
Blog Post by Rahul Kulkarni, Plant Chicago Waste Diversion Project Intern – Summer 2020 A Quick Note This analysis is purely based on my...
Sep 16, 2020
Think Global, Begin Local – Support Circular Businesses
Blog Post by Ylise Minor, Plant Chicago Circular Packaging Project Intern – Summer 2020 The modern world is one of hasty economic growth...
Apr 30, 2020
Infrastructuring the Circular Economy
Circular Economy Advisory Committee members Weslynne Ashton (IIT Stuart School of Business) and Andre Nogueira (Harvard T.H. Chan School...
Aug 8, 2019
Exploring Mycorrhizal Fungi
This summer, two of Plant Chicago’s interns are working on a project that can potentially benefit all farmers and gardeners in Chicago,...
May 29, 2019
Scoby Textiles part 2
If you’ve been following our social media, you’ve seen periodic updates of Eva’s SCOBY textile project. Below is her summary, the final...
Mar 9, 2019
A first look at SCOBY textiles
Introducing Plant Chicago’s newest intern, Eva Durance, who is experimenting with SCOBYs as a means of textile production. For this...
Dec 12, 2018
2018 Illinois Institute of Technology Waste Audit Findings
Working with Plant Chicago, a group of students from Dr. Weslynne Ashton’s ‘Industrial Ecology and Systems Thinking’ class at IIT’s...
Nov 21, 2018
Native Pollinator Research
Introduction This summer, Plant Chicago worked with Lauren Lynch, an entomologist from the University of Illinois. Through specimen...
Oct 25, 2018
The Future of Farmers Markets
Over the past year Andre Nogueira (PhD Candidate from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design) and Liz Lyon (Plant...
Aug 14, 2018
Human Versus Machine: Home Appliances
Post by John Mulrow, PhD Candidate in Civil Engineering at University of Illinois Chicago INTRODUCTION In the last Human v Machine blog...
Jul 19, 2018
Eat off a plate, then eat the plate
Plant Chicago intern Sam Evers has taken on an oft-used material at The Plant, coffee chaff, and found yet another use for this...
Jul 19, 2018
If paint grew on trees… or vines
Plant Chicago intern Clarisel Cantarero has found a way to combine her passion for art with sustainability in helping us find a use for a...
Jul 19, 2018
Grow Your Own Fish Feed
Plant Chicago intern Charles Cole has been investigating a way to reduce food waste leaving The Plant, while at the same time providing...
Jul 5, 2018
What I Learned from Standing Next to a Trash Bin
By Dana Greene, Materials Management Intern As an intern with Plant Chicago, I have been able to work on a variety of unique projects...
Jul 3, 2018
Human Versus Machine: Compost Screening
Post by John Mulrow, PhD Candidate at University of Illinois Chicago INTRODUCTION Composting is a simple and traditional circular economy...