Chicago, Food and Sustainability: The Trifecta

Current food-related sustainability projects in Chicago:

The Plant 1400 W. 46th St., Chicago, IL 60609

Copyright by Matt Bergstrom

"The Plant will create 125 jobs in Chicago’s economically distressed Back of the Yards neighborhood – but, remarkably, these jobs will require no fossil fuel use. Instead, The Plant will install a renewable energy system that will eventually divert over 10,000 tons of food waste from landfills each year to meet all of its heat and power needs...All food waste generated by these businesses will be composted in the anaerobic digester to create power for The Plant’s renewable energy system. "

The Plant is a social enterprise model between two companies, non-profit and for-profit, which both aim for a socially and environmentally responsible business.

The building has food-producing businesses and non-profit and educational research facilities. One goal of The Plant is to create new, "green" jobs in the community of Chicago.

One of the more fascinating aspects of The Plant is growing plants and fish in the same environment.

"The fish produce ammonia-based waste that is sent through a biofilter where solids settle out and the rest is broken down into nitrates. Those nitrates are then fed to plants growing in hydroponic beds. By absorbing the nitrates, the plants clean the water, which is returned to the fish. Plant Chicago’s system was also custom-built and incorporates recycled materials into it’s construction."

The Plant even has its own brewery, by brothers Samuel and Jesse Edwin Evans, that utilizes the spent grain by feeding it to the Tilapia,  fertilizing mushrooms, or for energy usage. 

"But much of it will go to an amazing device called an “anaerobic digester,” which is essentially a bacteria-driven stomach that eats up food products like spent grain and produces biogas. That gas will be used in a turbine generator to create electricity for the facility, and 850º steam to be used in the brewing process. The CO2 created by the generator will be fed to plants grown elsewhere in The Plant."

Urban farms, like the one from he non-profit organization and land trust Growing Power  encourages people of all ages and all walks of life to grow and have access to high-quality, safe and affordable food. The non-profit offers:

"...hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner... Food production occurs in the organization’s demonstration greenhouses... [and] urban farms in Milwaukee and Chicago.

 We also distribute produce, grass-based meats, and value-added products through the activities of over 300 small family farmers in the Rainbow Farmers Cooperative, and the organization’s year-round food security program the Farm-to-City Market Basket Program. We also sell to numerous restaurants and small grocery stores in Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee.  

All of the above provide important opportunities for individuals and communities to network with each other as they work in partnership to promote food security and environmentally sound food production practices."