More Trees Please

On August 21, MCRs planted trees in Mill Creek Ravine along Hazeldean neighbourhood.
They planted 214 trees in total. Way to go MCRs!

 

For more information: visit edmonton.ca/mcrp

 

Celebrate Waste Collector Appreciation Day

Our waste collectors help keep our streets clean all year round. Last year they collected 245,046 tonnes of residential waste from 396,876 households, twice as heavy as Toronto's CN Tower! Safe, clean communities depend on the hard work that our waste collectors do on a daily basis.

As part of North American Waste Collector week, the City will celebrate our waste collectors at a free family event this Sunday at Compost 'S cool.

Date: Sunday, June 16
Time: 1 to 4 p.m.
Location: Compost 'S cool (near Fort Edmonton Park)
Cost: Free

Come chat with a waste collector, check out a garbage truck, make thank you cards and learn how to help keep your collectors safe and one time.

Visit edmonton.ca/wastecollections

Master Composter Recyclers Help Edmonton Re-Naturalize

Last Tuesday, MCRs planted 207 trees & shrubs at our annual summer planting event.  Thanks to everyone who came out. It was a big success.

We finished planting just before the rain and thunder came and all the plants benefited from warm showers, later that night. Perfect timing!

Staff with the City of Edmonton's Root for Trees program taught us about naturalization of urban areas. This includes letting the grass in an area grow (no mowing) in the first year and planting trees and shrubs in the second year. The new plants slowly take over, returning the area to a more natural landscape.

All in all, it takes several years to naturalize an area. Naturalization increases Edmonton's urban forest and offers many benefits. For one, this reduces mowing and maintenance.

MCRs chatted while we planted. The 175 trees & shrubs and 32 wildflowers included trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), white spruce (Picea glauca), red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea), prickly rose (Rosa acicularis), and graceful cinquefoil (Potentilla gracilis).

Thank you, once again, to everyone who came out.

     

Recap: MCR Munch & Mulch (June, 2018)

20 MCRs enjoyed a sunny, spring morning at Compost 'S cool, last Saturday. In good company, we learned, we chatted, we discussed, and we played in the dirt.

5 Ways to Deal with Grass, Leaves, and Plants... But Not "Compost"

• Mad Science: bokashi, extracts, teas & brews
• A Sensus of Humus: how to make leaf mold
• Interment: burial, trenching & double digging
• The Green, Green, Grass of Home: going bagless (grasscycling)
• Litter Bugs: chop & drop, deadheading, mulching & lasagna gardening

The group broke into four teams. Each team toured all four stations to learn about the topics above. At each station, one person from the team led a chat about the station.

Special thanks to MCR Deb P. She hosted the Mad Science station and taught us about bokashi. She even sent folks off with samples of EM (effective micro-organisms) to try their own bokashi compost.

The day ended with a fun game of Compost 'S cool charades.

Congrats to all those MCRs who were recognized for reaching milestones and long service. You rock!

We look forward to seeing everyone at the MCR Tree Planting, in July.

Stay in Touch: 5 Easy Ways to Record

• Click here record volunteering
• Visit MyVolunteerPage.com
• Email mcrp@edmonton.ca
• Phone 780-496-5991
• Text 780-668-0217

   

Friends & Colleagues at the MCR Townhall

Thanks to all the MCRs, MCRs-in-Training, and 2018 Candidates at the MCR Townhall Meeting.

It was great to see friends, new and old.

Front: Sunil & Julie
Row 2: Chidi., Elaine, Bana, Majida, Melissa, Coleen & Helene
Row 3: Erika, Katie, Yohie, Pam, Maria & Sarah
Row 3: Tammy, Hetal, Jocelyn, Mildred, Pat, Marx, Kayla & Cayley
Back: Hetal, Kory, Rodney, Suzy, Neil, Christine, Gordon, Liz, Bronwen, Terry, Nicole, Gaby, & Mark

We covered a lot of ground in a couple hours.

Waste Strategy Update
We discussed the Strategy Update presented to Utility Committee on February 23rd. Click here to read the strategy, the minutes, and documents. You can also watch the discussion.

Utility Committee approved the Strategy Update, in principle. The proposals go to City Council for more discussion on March 20th.

Improving the MCR Program
MCRs gave feedback about improving the program and helping MCRs be even more effective.
Some specific topics were:

• easy ways to record volunteering, 
• how to stay active as MCRs, and
• how to show friends & colleagues that we are waste experts

     

MCRs Share Their Stories - 2016

MCRs share all kinds of awesome details about their volunteering when they record hours or provide feedback. Here are some quotes from MCRs in 2016 reaching their friends, neighbours and colleagues:

• "I spoke to my landlord [and] she was hesitant, but also let me go ahead and grasscycle. I spoke to her about the benefits of it." - Zoila G.
• “This was a good venue to be at. The people [we] talked with were quite open to hearing about what we were there for and it wasn’t very difficult to figure out what topic(s) they needed they needed information on.” - Joanne M.
• "Helped set a friend up with a new backyard composter, introduced them to vermicomposting. Hopefully will set them up with a worm bin soon." - Natasha C.

• “Had dinner with a coworker and her boyfriend and we talked about backyard composting (mainly) and about different myths and truths behind it.” - Amanda R.
• "Talked with a neighbour in my crescent about needing leaves for my compost. Later that week he dropped off three bags of dry leaves!" - Angela F.
• "Explained about having worms living in my closet and what they will be doing for me and my plants in the future." - Carolyn H.
• "I presented to three kindergarten classes with my worm bin. The kids were very attentive and asked many questions." - Barb N.
• "Did a presentation at the staff meeting at the school that I work at about good practices in recycling and ways to reduce waste within the school building." - Reinette E.
• "We had my 7 year old son's birthday party at the Reuse Centre and were able to introduce that facility to several of our family and friends at that celebration. Many plan to come back to craft and shop there in the future." - Tammy F.
• “Helped build a plan for an acquaintance moving to a new country so that she wouldn’t have to throw anything into the garbage unnecessarily.” - Leah A.
• "Chatted with a lady at Costco who was looking at their double-tumbler composter and discussed the pros and cons of different types." - Rob B.
• "Demonstrated the use of kitchen waste to set up a worm compost." - Andrew W.
• “I am training bit-by-bit the MSW subcommittee at work to help steer the committee away from mis-informing the business regarding recycling.” - Kenneth R.
• “I did an environmental moment at all 9 of my safety meetings about how our company uses City of Edmonton services to pick up our waste and how it gets processed.” - Lee W.

There were far too many great stories to display all of them in one post. Check back next week for more!

2016 Volunteer Appreciation Event

Thank you for joining us at our 2016 Volunteer Appreciation Event on October 5th!

Volunteers and staff from the Master Composter Recycler and Reuse Centre volunteer programs gathered at the Royal Alberta Museum building for an evening of food, fun and activities. There was even live music, provided by Bailey Sutton on guitar and vocals.

Volunteers and their guests enjoyed a delicious spread of food and fresh popcorn while they mingled and created their own brooches at our reuse crafting table. Others took home a caricature from artist Laurel Hawkswell, or let their wild sides show with costumes and accessories at the NEAT Photo Booth. 

Special thanks to MCR Gordon D. for taking photos of the event!

Volunteers and their guests enjoyed lively conversation with their colleagues and got the chance to catch up with staff from Utility Services.

Volunteers got crafty, making brooches, hair pieces, and boutonnieres from Reuse Centre materials.

Doug Jones, Deputy City Manager for City Operations, came out to thank volunteers for their hard work and dedication to making Edmonton a sustainable city. 

The caricature artist was a hit! She didn't stop drawing all night, and several volunteers took home their cartoon likenesses. Here, she catches a smiling Dean and Olivia. 

Dean Wyman is the Director of Operations at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre. He was on hand to thank volunteers on behalf of Utility Services.

What's an event without door prizes? 10 lucky winners took home Reuse Centre gift baskets. 

Congratulations to Guy S., Ranga K., Gordon D., and Nikki T., who all received their certificates for completing 35 hours of MCR volunteering.

Three masked menaces let out their inner animals! Scroll down for some more of our favourite shots from the photo booth.

Thank you again for joining us! We had a lot of fun and we hope you did, too!