The 2014 Course of Master Composter Recyclers has officially begun! 37 students are joining us this year, all eager to learn and spread the word about less-waste.
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| Veteran MCRs should remember this board! |
Our first class began with the typical introductions. We learned about what it means to be an MCR and a little bit about how to deal with waste in Edmonton. Neil Burkard, educational program specialist at the EWMC, joined us to explain waste streams and provide an overview of the different processing systems used in our city.
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| Rodney talks volunteering |
We jumped into the nitty-gritty on our second day, when Myles Curry came in to talk about Garbology. He gave us the run down on residential waste, including what's in it and why we focus on specific types of waste. Myles also talked about which kinds of waste reduction make the biggest differences.
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| Who knew garbage could be so interesting? |
Neil joined us again, this time to give us more detail on recycling. He talked about what goes in the blue bag, and how our systems and sorting processes at the MRF influence what we are able to recycle.
Day three saw some more familiar faces. Mark Stumpf-Allen gave us our introduction to the ick-factor of composting, with a primer on decomposition! MCR Christine W. came to give a presentation about worm composting, and led us through making our own worm bins!
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| Bins constructed. It's time to add the worms! |
MCR Yoshie N. brought in her own bin and shared a little of her experience with worm composting at home and as a caretaker of the City Hall compost.
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| New "pets" for excited MCRs! |
Three classes down, and so much more still to come!
Everyone in the class brings a wonderful spirit to the group. We are looking forward to seeing them out and actively promoting waste reduction in the community.
Love building worm bins! Especially watching some people tentatively get over their perception of what "Gross" is, and the joy of those who dive right in. Yoshie and Christine were top examples of how volunteers might be involved in one to three years - very inspiring. Asking people to compost with worms in their home is a really Big Ask, so it is great to see everyone make the big commitment. Hope others at home were as excited as we were!
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