Breaking Down the Ear

May 24th, 2010, 5:14 pm

So how does one “break down” an ear? Well, take the twigs and sticks out of it of course! The Urban Agriculture group devoted about six hours to taking apart the Ear Sculpture donated by local artist Robert Wiens for last year’s Open Corridor Festival. Over the course of the year, the stick-made ear became home to bugs and critters of all sizes and was falling apart, due to the passage of time and the weather’s effects on it.

Taking it down was time consuming, as it had been secured in place with expensive tubing, wires and nails. The dumpster was filled to the top, and was in fact overflowing at the conclusion of the night. It took about 6-10 people, to take the sculpture down and free up the space around the building where it was located. The area is free again for perhaps another project in the future, but as for the ear, its only existence is in the minds of those that saw it, or the tiny twigs left scattered on the ground.

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GCompost Breaks Ground

March 16th, 2010, 5:17 pm

It has been an exciting and productive week for GCompost. We were first able to break ground with the construction of 3 composters. We were able to contruct 2 pallet composters, of which we are waiting to finish constructing the door. We were also able to construct a chicken wire composter and erected a black plastic composter donated by the EWSWA. Our goals are to test different composters and to  determine which is the most effective way of composting. This week we plan to begin construction on the compost dryer and move forward with compost collection. In no time, GCompost will be putting composting compost!

We were also able to develop a logistical  plan of how to collect the compost on campus. We have been able to work out an agreement with food services and develop a systematic plan of how to compost will reach the respective sites. We have made some key contacts in local businesses and have approached Canadian Tire with the opportunty to purchase our compost.

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One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Composter

March 9th, 2010, 6:28 pm

GCompost took a visit to the Essex Windsor Soild Waste Authority Central Facility. It was a search and rescue operation of appliances and materials that would otherwise be sent to the landfill. We recovered a Large Projection television, a stockpile of mesh screens, shopping carts, a plexiglass panel, an old door and an old metal garbage bin.

These materials will be going towards the construction of our various composter ideas. We were successful in finding the proper materials to move the project forwards. Construction is starting soon with the unexpected find of a dryer and 10 wooden pallets. The estimated time of completion is April 1st. Special thanks goes out to everyone at the EWSWA for helping us hand pick our materials and for giving us their full support in this project!

We had a successful presentation at the SIFE Regionals over the weekend, as the project and its business plan look very promising(see previous blog).

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Introducing…GCompost!

February 9th, 2010, 5:42 pm

Today, the composting group from the Green Corridor is launching their new logo for their group, GCompost.

As we move forward with the composting process, we have found the need of co-operation of a  few key people  to ensure our success.  We are currently in talks with several university officials who will have a major impact on the growth of the project.

We have come up with four different designs of composters we plan to create. As we spoke about earlier, we plan to design a composter made out of an old, discarded clothes dryer.  With this type of design it will speed up the process of composting by including its own airation system and improved tumbling mechanisim, which will help break down the material.

The next design is the pallet composter. It will be able to hold large amount of compost with a relatively economical and simple design.  The third design is what is known as the tire composter. The interesting fact is that tires hold heat which will improve the  process of composting as well as being able to recycle old tires. The fourth and final composter is the bicycle composter. It will provide an easy way to rotate and turn composting as well we will be recycling old bicycles.

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