Through the Desert Garden program, scientists and refugees have turned two problems — the inability to grow fresh fruits and vegetables in desert refugee camps and a warehouse of unrecyclable foam mattresses — into a humanitarian solution.

The Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan is a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) safe haven for 80,000 refugees from the Syrian war. It is inhabited by many former farmers, but poor soil, water restrictions and local rules that restrict permanent structures (including planting in the ground) make it difficult to grow food in this desert camp. Furthermore, while the camp has the most effective plastics recycling scheme in Jordan, unrecyclable polyurethane foam mattresses were piling up in a warehouse. Despite apparently being a waste management problem, scientists at the University of Sheffield working on soil-free, hydroponic food production in polyurethane foam recognized that repurposing the mattresses could allow refugees to grow their own fresh food.

The Desert Garden project was thus founded in 2017 to develop and implement low-tech hydroponic systems for growing herbs, vegetables, fruits and leafy greens using pieces of recycled mattresses in drain pipes and used yoghurt containers at the Zaatari camp. Since its founding, the project has helped to set up hydroponic growing in 500 households, producing tomatoes, strawberries, chilies, beans, lettuces and many different herbs. Through working with the UN Refugee Agency, we at the Desert Garden project have now trained more than 1,000 refugees, including over 400 women, in hydroponic techniques. Initially the University of Sheffield staff undertook the training, but refugee trainers have since taken the lead and the diffusion of hydroponics know-how is now self-sustaining.