The Centre for Recycling of Organic Waste and Nutrients (CROWN) was established in late 2017 as part of the University’s School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, enabled by seed funding from the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
The establishment of CROWN was prompted by the push to reduce and divert organic waste from landfill into agriculture and horticulture, the drive to find ways of value adding animal manures and reducing nitrogen losses in the manure supply chain, and the desire to improve resource use efficiency, maintain agricultural productivity, reduce negative environmental impacts and move towards a circular economy for organics.