A project that will turn waste from local parks into a tool to combat climate change is taking the next step.
Great Parks of Hamilton County and Cincinnati Parks are working on building facilities to produce biochar. The charcoal-like substance is created by heating wood chips without oxygen, which sequesters climate-warming carbon and creates a nutrient-rich soil additive.
Great Parks has started construction on a composting facility in Winton Woods that will play a key role in the process. It will compost manure from the park's farm and equestrian center.
Sustainability coordinator Stephanie Bacher says biochar will then be added to the compost pile to “supercharge” its soil-enhancing capabilities and speed up the composting process.
“It will just increase its power,” Bacher said. “The piece where it helps on the compost is — I don't know if you've been around manure, but it's kind of smelly. It will cut down on that smell a little bit, and it's going to speed up the compost process for us.”
Cincinnati Parks is set to start building its biochar production facility later this year at the department’s Sinton East Operation Center in Eden Park. It will house the pyrolysis machine, which will turn wood debris from local parks into biochar.
The biochar will be used by both Great Parks and Cincinnati Parks for tree planting.
“What supercharged biochar is going to do is increase the root strength of those trees, increase water retention and increase our overall regional soil health,” Bacher said.
The concept of biochar has a long history. Indigenous people in the Amazon used it to keep the soil fertile for centuries.
In 2022, Cincinnati Parks received a $400,000 grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to fund the start of the biochar project.
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