- 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...