IDeal: Hacking Healthy Soil

The City of Chicago doesn’t have a public facility to treat and manage organic waste, therefore, any organic material we do not use is transferred to landfills. Since the last active landfill of Cook County closed in 2016, our city has been exporting its trash—including organic waste—to neighbors’ landfills. If individuals and organizations want to support sustainable systems, they either have to partner with one of the six private organizations that are committed to face the challenge or solve the problem on their own.

IDeal, a student-led design swarm for local companies engaged in community improvement who seek to leverage their offerings, will take on this challenge in partnership with Healthy Soil Compost. This hyper local startup is creating meaningful impact in Chicago by collecting organic waste using a hybrid system of bike and car pickups. Participants will join teams to design tangible solutions based on Healthy Soil's current struggles. Each team will use design methodologies to tackle a specific task with the goal of creating meaningful outcomes based on sustainable principles.

We welcome participants from all disciplines to add their voice and talent to solving these challenges.

IDeal was created in partnership with students running BarnRaise Chicago and sustainID.