Rounding Out the Waste Cycle: TMMK's On-Site Greenhouse

Our own geodesic dome now sits on the lawn of the 508 Utility Building as TMMK’s new greenhouse. The greenhouse, called a Growing Dome, is a pre-fabricated unit, measuring 50 feet in diameter and 19 feet tall.

“The greenhouse completes the waste segregation cycle,” said Chuck Martin, a specialist in Facilities Control. “We’ll use the compost we create from cafeteria waste and other biodegradable material as a growing medium in the greenhouse. Bedding plants and vegetables will be grown in there year round and eventually will be composted again.”

Although the geodesic design enables the greenhouse to maintain optimum growing temperatures with little or no extra heating or cooling, Facilities Control uses waste heat to augment the structure’s passive solar technology. Warm water from the 508 Utility Building’s cooling towers circulates through raised planting beds and the gravel floor to add heat.

Tomatoes and herbs have been started in the greenhouse, and landscape bedding plants will be started in late winter. With the addition of the new greenhouse, team members now can see (and eat) tangible benefits of their efforts in waste segregation.