Context
Terra Blocks is the iteration of Terra Stacks, and it aims to provide a decentralized composting solution for urban dwellers, while also inviting users to benefit from its circularity.
Strategy & Design
Terra Blocks addresses the functionality challenges and shortcomings of Terra Stacks, which include:
-Larger pots, that can hold up to 1 pound, or approximately 1,000 red worms. This volume allows users to compost about 1/2 pound of food scraps daily, per vertical stack.
-An extruded base that helps ensure the pots add weight and pressure when they are stacked. This tiered stacking mechanism mimics a natural process, similar to when it rains, that encourages worms to move up into the next pot to continue the composting process.
-Customizability that can meet most composting needs in households, schools, or small businesses. Users can use one countertop stack of two pots, or build a composting garden of Terra Blocks. As more vertical stacks are added, there is greater capacity for composting food scraps and some organic waste.
Challenges
While Terra Blocks successfully addresses many of the shortcomings of Terra Stacks, it continues to iterate. This version is slipcasted from a 3-piece mold, which combined with the size, increases the cost of production significantly. With this product aiming to reduce greenhouse gases and our footprint, production close to major US cities, where the product would be marketed and sold, becomes a priority. This also increases the cost and, consequently, the price.
