G.R.A.C.E. stands for the "Gardening & Recycling Alliance for Civic Enrichment" – it's a prototype, interdisciplinary initiative that reimagines how we view and use "waste materials". Not only are we actively forging partnerships, we're also designing systems and products.
START SMALL,
THINK BIG.
THE STORY OF GRACE
Back in 2020, we discovered that the waste materials going to our city’s recycling facilities weren’t being completely recycled, and an alarming proportion of waste was ending up in the landfill. The crazy concept that started this project was to divert our city’s glass from the landfill and turn it into greenhouses – and to donate them to the families and public facilities (like churches, schools, etc) in the community. The idea for G.R.A.C.E. was born.
G.R.A.C.E. stands for the “Gardening & Recycling Alliance for Civic Enrichment”. Our mission is to enrich the lives of people and their environment through gardening and recycling initiatives on a small and large scale. This starts by connecting existing organizations, businesses, and groups that focus on agriculture and/or sustainability – such as gardens and gardeners, farms and farmers, landscaping experts, waste management facilities, glass processing companies, and other related industries and groups. Our vision is to form alliances within the community: to create a system of channels connecting these groups in order to incentivize better recycling practices, to identify and implement valuable uses for recycled materials, and to create localized, grassroots solutions for food security.
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The pinnacle of our multi-layered project is to construct GS1 (“Garden Sanctuary 1”), a prototype botanical and community garden made from recycled materials – including greenhouses made from the city’s recycled glass. GS1 would serve as the central axis of G.R.A.C.E.’s ongoing activities, such as developing better infrastructure and machinery for recycling, offering health and gardening-centered educational programs, hosting arts and cultural events, donating greenhouses to the community, providing composting services, raising awareness about soil health, and organizing community trash & recycling pickups.
We call GS1 the prototype, because our intention is to provide the plans and methods as a kind of “open-source code” to people and groups in other cities that aspire to create a Garden Sanctuary to benefit their communities. The idea is that over time, a network of Garden Sanctuaries across the country can grow to support each other, share resources and knowledge, and continue to promote the wellbeing of its people and the environment. Our goals are (1) to unite communities by supporting the health of their families and adding value to their economy; (2) to systematically improve waste management & food security; (3) to create prototypes for sustainable construction & development; (4) to inspire people through the beauty of the natural world, arts & culture.