Walking past a wormery on campus, Timo Rodermond wondered what you could do with it. Having done some googling, he and his fellow inventor Mickey Linskens completed their design in a few evenings. “We wanted something that looks nice”, says Linskens, Master’s student of Industrial Design Engineering. “The factory design we chose – the kind of polluting, clanking, smoke-producing factory that you used to find in 1970s Manchester – is a nod to the sustainable nature of this project.” The factory is completely made of recycled materials, except for the container seals and pond liner. The outside is made of pallet wood and for the chimney they used an old cable reel and attached it with old bicycle rims. “We needed to dig out soil in order to have a firm base for the compost factory, which gave us kilos of earth to make the worms feel at home.” The students built the Compost Factory within three days, with help from staff from the Stichting Stunt sheltered workshop. If it is up to the two students, the Compost Factory will be the first of many across Delft. “Disposing of fruit and vegetables sustainably is quite complicated. Especially for students, because there are so many of us and only limited organic waste containers, and the rubbish quickly starts to stink”, explains Linskens. “Now you get something useful back – potting compost.”