When I was a child, some of my earliest memories of my dad were about his interest in environmental sustainability. We were one of the first families in Cincinnati with solar panels and an electric car, and we always had a vegetable garden and home compost. I liked working in our garden and compost, and through this work, I gained a hands-on appreciation for the natural environment and started to learn about the impacts of global climate change. Climate change was a scary idea to me, and I wanted to know what I could do to stop it or at least slow it down. I learned that not only does composting produce a rich garden fertilizer, but also prevents the climate-warming methane gas emissions when organic wastes are sent to landfills. For my eighth-grade science fair project, I made buckets of compost with different conditions and a simple electronic sensor to measure methane gas, temperature, and moisture in each bucket. During the science fair presentations, I realized that composting was not as mainstream a behavior as I had thought; in fact, few of my classmates were familiar with the idea. This lack of familiarity surprised me, as I grew up believing that every family composts. This made me realize that I could help more families start to compost at home and that these digital sensors could be used as part of a system to help make it easy and engaging.

Global climate change is the single biggest threat facing humanity. Storms, floods, fires, and drought will increase food insecurity and migration, leading to conflict and suffering. And it is now my generation’s problem to solve. A typical family generates over 800 lbs of organic wastes each year. Organic wastes sent to landfills decompose anaerobically and produce methane gas which is 20 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Home composting virtually eliminates the greenhouse gas emissions from these wastes while also diverting materials from landfills. The finished compost can also replace chemical fertilizers, which are made from fossil fuels in a CO2-intensive process making home composting a net-negative CO2 process. Although some might consider places like Cincinnati, Ohio to be relatively unaffected by global climate change, the experiences in my community suggest that it is already a major challenge. Our summers have become hotter and our winters have become colder. Severe weather, periods of drought, and flash flooding are not uncommon. The issue of wastes in landfills is also acute here, as the highest elevation in my county is the local landfill, and the hundreds of thousands of people living within 10 miles of the landfill have to endure the local air pollution that it generates, mostly as a result of the organic materials decomposing anaerobically.

Composting is incredibly accessible; all a person needs to start is a small patch of ground where they can pile their organic wastes. Many families start composting but run into simple-to-address problems, such as odors or pests, or just lack confidence about the process. The unfortunate result is that 80% of families that try composting stop within four months. Like a FitBit for your compost, my smart home composting system equips families with the knowledge of composting experts and the support of a community. The solar-powered digital sensor measures key parameters of the compost and sends that data to a cloud server. This data then feeds an algorithm in the smartphone app to provide simple recommendations on how to care for the compost. In addition, the app is linked to a person’s zip code to connect them with others who compost in their community. The system makes composting fun and engaging through gamification, awarding activity points and badges. The overarching goal for my smart home composting system is to make composting easy and engaging for more families, schools, and community groups who have an interest in composting but lack knowledge or confidence. I am passionate about composting and encouraging others in my community to compost because I truly believe it is the easiest and most cost-effective way for families to start reducing their carbon footprint.

On the product development side, over the past four years, I have refined the sensor system by designing and building more than 60 iterative prototypes, learning something new with each one. The result is a weatherproof, solar-powered, and WiFi-enabled sensor device that I filed a patent application for with my dad’s help. Working with my sister, who is studying computer science, we created a smartphone app to interpret the sensor data and provide a user-friendly interface. On the deployment side, I have started small, first encouraging families and schools locally. During my spring break, I hand-built ten devices, some of which are currently being tested as interactive learning experiences at community gardens and high schools to increase the effectiveness of their compost education and outreach programs. I recently started developing a custom printed circuit board to enable a semi-mass-produced version of the device with plans to build and deploy our first 100 systems this winter. Assuming this is successful, I would then look to expand to 500 and then 1000 systems in late 2024 or early 2025. I recognize that my goals for this project are ambitious. However, I also recognize that it will be a success even if I enable or inspire just a couple additional families to start composting and that every small impact should be celebrated and is a step in the right direction.

On the product development side, over the past four years, I have refined the sensor system by designing and building more than 60 iterative prototypes, learning something new with each one. The result is a weatherproof, solar-powered, and WiFi-enabled sensor device that I filed a patent application for with my dad’s help. Working with my sister, who is studying computer science, we created a smartphone app to interpret the sensor data and provide a user-friendly interface. On the deployment side, I have started small, first encouraging families and schools locally. During my spring break, I hand-built ten devices, some of which are currently being tested as interactive learning experiences at community gardens and high schools to increase the effectiveness of their compost education and outreach programs. I recently started developing a custom printed circuit board to enable a semi-mass-produced version of the device with plans to build and deploy our first 100 systems this winter. Assuming this is successful, I would then look to expand to 500 and then 1000 systems in late 2024 or early 2025. I recognize that my goals for this project are ambitious. However, I also recognize that it will be a success even if I enable or inspire just a couple additional families to start composting and that every small impact should be celebrated and is a step in the right direction.