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Backyard composting container
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There's no doubt about it! Composting kitchen scraps and leaf and yard waste reduces impacts on the environment in a variety of ways. What starts at home as 'waste' can help grow plants and vegetables without ever leaving our backyards or balconies.
Often referred to as 'black gold', compost is a soil-like product, derived from a natural biological process. This process converts organic material, such as food scraps and leaf and yard materials into an excellent soil-conditioner, full of nutrients.
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The value of composting.
Composting organic waste provides multiple benefits. First, approximately 40-50 per cent of the residential waste stream is organic matter which could be separated from waste destined for landfill. Composting makes a significant impact on the requirement for landfill capacity, when residents divert kitchen, leaf and yard waste to either a backyard composter, or a centralized composting facility.
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Moss Park Community Kitchen Garden
in Toronto
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Secondly, composting produces a useable product which replaces the need for pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Rich in organic matter, finished compost can help improve soil texture and fertility. It has many applications including home gardening, landscaping and house plants.
Backyard composting
In municipalities where centralized composting is not available, or where only yard and leaf wastes are collected, a backyard composter can be used. Backyard composting involves the set-up and ongoing management of a composting unit at the household. To ensure best results, it is important to make sure that the right types and amounts of organic materials are used and that the composting process is properly maintained. Backyard composting reduces municipal collection costs and gives home gardeners their own supply at their doorstep. Tens of thousands of Canadians maintain a backyard composter, many of which have been provided by municipalities at minimal cost.
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Centralized composting
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Compost windrows located at an intensive livestock operation near High River, Alberta
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Centralized composting involves the collection and transportation of organic wastes to a specific facility where it is prepared and processed into compost. These facilities are designed to manage large volumes and a wide range of organic materials. Often, as part of a centralized composting program, residents are required to separate their organic material and place in a separate bag or container. This step ensures a clean incoming organic stream and minimizes contamination. There are more than 344 facilities in Canada, which processed more than 1.1 million tonnes of organic matter in 1998.
What you can do
The Composting Council of Canada is teaming up this year with similar organizations in the United Kingdom and the United States to promote composting and compost use. Backyard composting, openings of centralized composting facilities, gardening programs and tree-planting events are just some of the activities taking place during International Composting Week from April 29 to May 5.
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