Cornell Center for Circular Bionutrient Economy (C3BE)

Moonshot Award

Hybrid Award (Proposal Development & Innovation Development)

Abstract

Circular bionutrient economy (CBE) is an emerging area for research and implementation in SIPS and the Ashley School. Agriculture and broader landscape management currently depend largely on synthetic fertilizer, a paradigm that contributes to climate change, depletes finite resources, pollutes aquatic environments, and limits fertilizer access for resource-limited growers. Bionutrient circularity offers a means to regenerate the soils that support agriculture and green spaces across the rural-urban continuum while providing a range of co-benefits. Work towards a Cornell Center for Circular Bionutrient Economy (C3BE) is facilitating progress on CBE at Cornell campus, in NY State, and globally to reduce the waste of nutrients associated with food scraps, human and animal excreta, and other organic residues and by-products. 

Project leadership is bringing SIPS and SESD together to support Cornell’s wider sustainability goals. Four focus areas are currently being developed under the C3BE framework: 

1. development of excreta/biochar-based fertilizers in NYS and Africa 
2. implementation of urine-derived fertilizers in turfgrass environments 
3. pee-powered gardening methods that make use of landscape residuals
4. building an industry consortium for public-private partnerships, industry funding and scale-up 

A series of convenings is supporting linkages among diverse stakeholders involved in CBE.