CEDARS-GE, The University of Hong Kong

Public Lecture

Community Composting for Waste Reduction and Soil Regeneration

Date 日期:

07 Apr 2022

Time 時間:

6:45pm - 8:15pm

Venue 地點:

Conducted via online platform

Speaker(s) 講師:

Dr. Markus Wernli
Ms. Hermia Chung

Summary 內容:

Urban Edible Spaces Forum
Community Composting for Waste Reduction and Soil Regeneration

According to the latest waste statistics for 2020 in the report Monitoring of Solid Waste in Hong Kong, an average of about 3,255 tonnes of food waste were disposed in the landfills every day. Among those, 76% were household disposal, which means approximately each person has dumped 330g of food waste per day. One of the solutions to this problem is composting – converting organic waste into soil conditioner. But for most urban dwellers living in high-density cities like Hong Kong, composting has been an unfamiliar concept and it seems we do not have the appropriate conditions or facilities to make it. In this forum, experts from different backgrounds will share their experiences in advocating composting, from personal, household, to business level. It is never too late to start composting and reduce our impacts on the environment!

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Speakers:
Dr. Markus Wernli (Research Assistant Professor, School of Design, HK PolyU)
Ms. Hermia Chung (Co-founder, FoodCycle+)

Date: 7/4 (Thu)
Time: 18:45 – 20:15
Venue: Conducted via online platform
Language: English & Cantonese (simultaneous interpretation in English will be provided)

► Online Registration:
For HKU Students and Staff -https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?ueid=80156
For Alumni and Public - https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?guest=Y&ueid=80157

Bio of Speaker(s) 講者簡介:

Dr. Markus Wernli is a Research Assistant Professor at the School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a member of the Research Institute for Future Food. For over a decade, Markus has been exploring collectivised approaches to nutrients’ cycling, metabolic interrelatedness, and agroecological urbanism. Since 2015, he pursued in Hong Kong inventive composting initiatives, including an Indigenous Bokashi workshop at HKU’s Rooftop Farming Project, grassroots biochar production at the Zero-Organic-Waste-Home (雲⼟間), household-level urine fermentation with Anthroponix (人類水培), and an earthworm-powered toilets for off-the-grid, coastal stilt houses (便便船). Recently, Markus established the Soil Trust (泥玩:集「棄」還田) programme which collaborates closely with the co-purchasing platform Tinyeah (田嘢), production farmers and associated households for returning kitchen scraps to the soil by using a localised bokashi technique. Born and raised in Switzerland alongside a farming father, and after an eclectic career in communications design and media art in the US and Japan, Markus was introduced to soil care practices by ecologist David Freudenberger at Fenner School of Environment and Society of the Australian National University.

Ms. Hermia Chung 鍾千慧小姐

Hermia stayed and worked in several farms during her time in Australia and New Zealand. She obtained the Certificate of Permaculture Design Course (PDC) in Australia and joined as tour Guide of Produce Green Foundation (綠田園基金) when she come back Hong Kong. Hermia is the Co-Founder of FoodCycle+ and helps FoodCycle+ to recycle local organic waste into high quality compost, and use the compost in FoodCycle+ Farm.