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David Gray recently visited the offices of Hatch Ltd. in Toronto to thank them for their generous donation of a HotRot 1811 along with an additional $50,000 to seed research. 

Formerly operating as a municipal composter in HRM, this equipment, valued at $170,000 will be installed on the Agricultural Campus and used both in operations to compost campus waste and for extensive research. 

John Bianchini, CEO, David Gray, Josh Leon, Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Irving Langill of Hatch

A collaboration between the Innovative Waste Management Research Program (IWM) led by Dr. Gordon Price and Dr. Paul Arnold, Acadia University,  aims to develop a platform to integrate the capture and distribution of heat and CO₂, from composting food wastes and agricultural residues on the Agricultural Campus,

"This leading-edge equipment will move the Faculty of Agriculture toward our goal of being a carbon neutral campus and add to our ability to do targeted research in this area," explained Dean Gray.

This generous donation will mark the beginning of a strong partnership between Hatch Ltd., and HÂþ»­ University.  Hatch is a Canadian engineering company working all over the world in areas such as mining, sustainability, urban solutions and energy.

"The donation of the HotRot 1811 composting system by Hatch Ltd will support research that will provide critical training for emerging scientists and engineers on technologies that enhance economic opportunities from organic wastes," explained Dr. Gordon Price, lead researcher.  "The research partnership with Hatch will also bring forward emerging innovations integrating the development of modular vertical greenhouse systems with urban organics waste management technologies. This specific research project will support HÂþ»­ University's goal of reducing its carbon footprint by managing on-campus organic wastes and showcase its leadership in research toward sustainable management of resources," he added.