Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

St. Lawrence College , Food Cycle Science and the St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Science have created a partnership to turn household food waste into a soil product for household flower beds and vegetable gardens. The Food Cycle CS-10 unit, produced by Food Cycle Science, is a food and organic waste recycling unit able to dehydrate and convert food waste into a nutrient rich material. Through a multi-step process, the unit can reduce the volume/weight of food and organic waste by up to 85-93%. The CS-10 unit is an alternative method to traditional composting, diverting household food and organic waste from the landfill. The resulting by-product is a fine to medium textured material, characterized by high amounts of available potassium, calcium, and zinc, and has been recommended as a soil amendment. However due to the nature of the Food Cycler's process, minimal decomposition of resulting material takes place. As a result, the beneficial microbial activity of traditional compost is absent and additional decomposition of the food waste is required to fully recycle the nutrients from the food waste back into the soil. Understanding the current limitations with the product, this project will examine whether the addition of beneficial microorganisms to the dehydrated food waste by-product generated by the Food Cycler CS-10 units will improve the by-product quality as a soil amendment and increase the nutrient availability to promote plant growth for home use. About St. Lawrence College With three friendly campuses in Brockville, Cornwall, and Kingston, St. Lawrence College is an integral part of the economic life and social fabric of Eastern Ontario with a close-knit community of 7,000 full-time students, and more than 70,000 proud alumni.