Innovation Barn: How Charlotte Plans to Go Zero Waste

Table Of Content

• Building Charlotte’s Circular Economy: Shaping Tomorrow, Today
• INNOVATION BARN: New development to turn Charlotte's trash to treasure
• Envision Charlotte
• Dr. Harry D. Cohen Explains How People Can "Be The Sun, Not The Salt" In New Book
• Free Tours at Innovation Barn, hub of Charlotte’s Developing Circular Economy

Test sites for circular economy projects are not uncommon in Europe, but Innovation Barn is the only one of its kind in the nation, says Amy Aussieker, Envision Charlotte’s executive director. Aussieker says she gets calls “all the time” from national and international sustainability leaders who’ve heard about the project and want to create something similar. The barn will also feature an aquaponics garden, composting station, educational classes, and spaces for new businesses. The circular economy concept was even used in the renovation process for the building. Doors there are made from construction waste taken from other sites. Everything in the building is about recycling or repurposing.

Building Charlotte’s Circular Economy: Shaping Tomorrow, Today

Carolina Urban Lumber has a showroom for its one-of-a-kind tables and mantle pieces created from trees cut from local construction sites. Two years ago, local environmentalists and some city staff members expressed reservations about the project's cost and intent. The Innovation Barn wound up costing double the initial budget approved by Charlotte City Council and opened two years later than projected.

INNOVATION BARN: New development to turn Charlotte's trash to treasure

It trains homeless people as baristas, and then uses the proceeds of the shop to help them get housing, transportation, therapy and higher-paying jobs. Glass bottles are collected from venues like Spectrum Center. Then the glass goes through a crushing machine and a screening machine. This produces sand of different coarseness, which can be used in gardening, art and other projects.

Envision Charlotte

The Innovation Barn is located at 932 Seigle Avenue in Charlotte. Click here for more information, including how you can reserve a tour of the Innovation Barn. Join over 47,000 local readers and get our FREE newsletter every day. The greens are sold to local restaurants, and the tilapia are harvested for Refugee Services.

The Innovation Barn, located at 932 Seigle Ave. is ground zero for Circular Charlotte, a joint project with the City of Charlotte to transition Charlotte to a circular economy. The Innovation Barn is a combination of entrepreneurial businesses, zero-waste initiatives, and a space to convene groups in order to learn more about and implement circular projects. The City of Charlotte owns the building and Envision Charlotte (non-profit organization) manages, designs, and implements the programming within. The Innovation Barn, designed by Progressive Companies, features a restaurant, coffee shop, retail spaces, education and community event space, and flexible incubator spaces that will change over time. Transparent walls throughout the building “exhibit” activities so visitors and colleagues may witness innovative circular businesses at work. The Innovation Barn, located at 932 Seigle Ave. is ground zero for Circular Charlotte, a joint project with the City of Charlotte to transition Charlotte to a circular economy.

Through a door to the left is the lab of Casey Annis—the Barn’s “mad scientist,” as Aussieker jokingly calls him. The Duke Energy software engineer experiments with reuse of plastic takeout containers and beer can carriers, which he pulverizes and molds into “Lego bricks,” each about 10 by 6 inches. Annis excitedly explains how he thinks builders could use them in construction. 100 Gardens maintains an indoor vertical farm and a tilapia tank that have a symbiotic environment. The waste from the fish is used as a fertilizer for the plants.

Imagine eating at a cafe serving food from a greenhouse right on site, or heading to a retail store that uses old scrap metal to make art. And while people are visiting, they could also get rid of some old plastic food containers, turning them into personal protection equipment. The idea behind the Innovation Barn is to create jobs while growing businesses that reuse waste materials.

Now, after years of planning and a $5 million renovation, it's a one-of-a-kind concept dedicated toward a sustainable future. Meanwhile, because Charlotte residents love their beverages, the Innovation Barn also has a coffee shop called Crane Coffee and a craft beer and wine bar called RePour that's open Fridays to Sundays. Explore the inner workings of the circular and sustainable initiatives.

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Aldersgate residents Ted and Gaye Smith spend over 40 hours a month collecting, cleaning and driving their retirement community's plastic to the Innovation Barn. About half the 36,000-square-foot building has been renovated so far. The Innovation Barn is still looking for corporate sponsors and other potential circular economy tenants.

— Charlotte is a city built on banks but city leaders believe it can become the first place in the country to build its economy around trash. The Innovation Barn is encouraging all businesses and Charlotte residents to become involved, saying it's all about a "positive society-wide" benefit. Public tours of the facility are offered twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.

In the event that all spaces are called for, street parking is available along Otts St. We are also conveniently located close to a CATS bus stop. — A former horse barn in Charlotte is being transformed into a zero-waste facility boasting cafes, retail stores, and more. Located on Seigle Avenue, the building is the first of its kind in the United States and seeks to create a circular economy. Soldier flies will break down waste behind a glass case and food will be harvested from a garden for a restaurant and a beer garden. The city has spent nearly $5 million to renovate the old building on Seigle Avenue in the Belmont neighborhood. It's a joint effort withEnvision Charlotte, which will manage the building as a showcase for what it calls the "circular economy."

Among other things, the barn boasts a reusable plastics lab, soldier fly composting, a teaching kitchen, a sustainable furniture shop, and even an aquaponic garden. As I approach the corner of Seigle Avenue and Otts Street in Charlotte’s Belmont neighborhood, I see a long, white, low-slung industrial building. Inside, a man in goggles plays with brick-sized plastic blocks that look like giant Legos. Down a hall, a school of tilapia swim in a gold-colored tank that, with its porthole, looks like a cylindrical bathysphere. And there are benefits for other Innovation Barn tenants.

The Innovation Barn will be a model for Charlotte's grand plans to become the first city in the U.S. to become trash-free. "There's opportunities and resources for jobs and economic mobility all within our trash, which is kind of crazy," Aussieker said. She leads the nonprofit heading up the development that will turn Charlotte's trash into treasure. A new development is opening on Seigle Avenue later this year that could turn your trash into everything from bricks to leather to phone cases. As of June, Innovation Barn was more like a business incubator for sustainability enthusiasts. The first thing I see when I enter is a row of 20 aeroponic towers of lettuces and herbs.

When the vegetables absorb the nutrients they provide the fish with fresh, purified water. This system requires very little water, since it’s repeatedly recycled. Innovation Barn is the city’s first circular living lab, which aims to eliminate waste and continual use of resources. It’s part of a big initiative by the City of Charlotte to go zero waste. “It is really to show the public what a circular economy is and how you can start diverting waste from the landfill,” Aussieker says.