The Greater Sudbury Development Corporation has approved $21,398 spread over two years to support a bio-composting research study that could divert as much as 65 percent of the city's solid waste from landfills.
The funding decision was made Wednesday at a GSDC meeting, following a presentation to the board by Dr. Graeme Spiers, a Laurentian University professor leading the research.
Spiers' study will examine the sustainability of an aerobic drum bio-reactor as a way of converting agricultural, industrial and municipal waste into rich, black soil.
It's like a compost bin in your backyard, only bigger and faster, Spiers told the GSDC during his presentation.
Although aerobic composting projects have been successful in Europe and parts of the southern United States, Spiers will look at whether the same principles can be applied to a Northern Ontario climate. In other parts of the world, the bio-reactor has become an economic driver.
The professor has already successfully turned fish and wood processing waste into healthy soil during experiments held on Manitoulin Island.
