2From Waste to Green

Goal & Strategies

The waste management system in Saugus is. . . wasteful! The Wheelabrator waste-to-energy plant currently receives 1500 tons of organic waste daily. Annually, by burning this food waste, the incinerator produces electricity that can power 4600 households. However, not only is the site threatened by sea level rise, but this process squanders organic material that could be used in far more productive ways. Therefore, I’m proposing a new system that can be adaptive to flooding and produce more valuable products besides just ash. The food waste will be transformed to compost, and the byproducts of the composting process -- CO2 and heat -- will support on-site blue green algae farming and greenhouses. While the blue green algae are highly valuable as raw material for biofuel or superfood, the fruits and vegetables produced in the greenhouses are essential to the nearby communities, too. The fruit and vegetables we consume daily are usually grown in states far away. Not only is food migrating, but people. Many communities in towns such as Chelsea, Revere and Lynn have large populations of recent immigrants and are considered “food deserts”. If we can produce more fruits and vegetables locally, we will be able to reduce food price and support those communities.

Strategies for Site A

In Wheelabrator, Saugus, I will take advantage of the landfills in the wetland. Currently, the landfills are acting as a barrier to natural water flow. Why not break the embankment down and make it a “holder” for bioreactor containers and algae ponds, while encouraging better water flow? The heat pipes embedded in the embankments can transmit the waste heat from composting to the greenhouses.

The process is color-coded: the algae ponds and the bioreactor containers will change colors as days go by. The container is sized for the current amount of trash. Eight containers will take in 1500T of daily food waste and transform it into compost after 15 days. People can watch this color-changing process from the turnpike next to the site.

Strategies for Site B

The William A. Berfowitz School is located next to the Chelsea Creek, one of the most polluted water body in Boston. Therefore, in addition to being the center of fresh produce market and food waste deposition for communities nearby, the school should also be the distribution center for the compost that support the remediation of industrial sites along Chelsea Creek.

In the proposal, the street will be temporarily closed during weekends for farmers’ market. I’m also imagining that after the industrial site is removed, it can be transformed to lawn and plaza. I want to use the crushed concrete from demolition to pave the plaza, as show in grey hatch. Fast growing softwoods such as pines will be planted to set up the framework, while lines of slow growing hardwoods will happen in between.

Along the coast, birch groves will intertwine with the restored wetland. The new vegetation system will protect the city from floods.

Here is a view taken from the plaza to look through the railway platform. A low wall on the edge will protect schools from traffics. With the market, the benches, the tree shades and the carts hear and there carrying boxes of fruits and vegetables, the place will be bustling.

INSTRUCTOR Prof. Jennifer Birkeland

Bergen Arches, Jersey City, NJ