Join us for a private tour of The Plant, a closed-loop collaborative community of food producing business in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Not long ago, The Plant was an abandoned 93,500 square foot industrial space and former meatpacking plant. Starting in 2010, the building, owned by Bubbly Dynamics, was modified to become an urban farm and food production center, housing a community of businesses committed to materials reuse. Symboiotic businesses reside in The Plant, and many waste products and materials from one business are used as inputs by another, minimizing or eliminating what ends up in the landfill. For example, spent grain from the brewery serves as food for the fish farm. When completed, what food waste that cannot be reused, along with over 10,000 tons per year of food waste from area businesses, will be fed into an anaerobic digester being built on site. As the food and organic matter decomposes, the digester will create a biogas, or fuel, that will be used to power the building.

Plant Chicago, the non-profit tenant in The Plant, collaborates with small food businesses, including farming, baking and brewing to develop circular economies of food production, energy conservation and material reuse.

C2ST has partnered with Plant Chicago to provide private tours of the facility on Saturday, June 11. Immediately following a guided tour of the building, participants will proceed to the new tasting room of the Whiner Brewery for a special talk including tenant businesses of The Plant, who will talk about how their businesses fit into the ciruclar economy and the science behind their products. They will also answer audience questions. Businesses include: Pleasant House Bakery (bread); 4 Letter Word (coffee); Whiner Brewery (beer); and Plant Chicago (making fish food!). Pastries from Pleasant House Bakery will be provided.

Registration information will be available shortly.