New organic waste recycler on campus

Trinity has just installed a food waste recycling machine that will have a big impact on our environmental footprint.

It might not be the most glamorous addition to the College grounds, but the new Gaia Recycle machine more than pulls its weight.

Each day, kitchen staff fill it up with pretty much any organic food waste: whether plant- or animal-based. The system can also take garden clippings.

By heating and shredding the waste, an accelerated fermentation and dehydration process is activated.

Left behind is a dry biomass that is only 10–15% of the original volume and is rich in concentrated nutrients.

Based on the main campus’s current food waste, we estimate the new machine will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 76.58 tonnes per annum.

Trinity is proud to include the new Gaia Recycle as one aspect of its ongoing sustainability strategy.

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In reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Gaia Recycle machine produces environmentally friendly, practical byproducts.

The resulting biomass is sterile and free from weeds, seeds and pathogens so that in all ways it is an ideal soil amendment.

The biomass is also suitable for use as a compost enhancer and as a component of biomass fuels.

Read more on Trinity’s sustainability strategy and goals here

Read more on the Gaia Recycle here

17 Mar 2015
Category: About