Every Homeowner Should Have a Composter! By MCR Trish H.

I bought a house last year moving from an apartment. What a lifestyle change! I was looking forward to having a garden, making the yard aesthetic, and growing food to eat. I was excited to learn composting as part of the experience. If I was getting a house, I wanted the whole package! I also wanted to get to know some of my neighbours. I was extremely fortunate to get into the Edmonton Master Composter Recycler Program ... like a dream come true.

During the winter, I found that the garbage in the house would get smelly because of the food waste thrown into it. In the apartment, I had just a small kitchen catcher that I would throw  into the outdoor bin. In a house, I had to have a larger garbage container and keep it in black bags for pickup once a week. As soon as I entered the house, I could smell the garbage. Once spring came, I obtained a free

black plastic composter and collected food wastes separately. Guess what? No more smell!

In the fall, I had the huge deck cut back to make more room for a garden. Being the thrifty person I
am, I thought about how I could reuse the wood. I had a garbage bin built from it, but there was still lots of wood left. I also used it to make a new matching back fence so had leftover wood from the newish but ugly previous back fence. I got new side fences built as they were a shambles. I had a few new fence boards leftover as well. All in all, I had a big pile of lumber taking up valuable space in my garage.

With a yard to care for, I quickly realized that a small compost bin just wasn’t going to be enough. I wanted a place to put my leaves in the fall and a place to throw garden waste, like greens and dying plants, and wanted to

keep the yard tidy throughout the year. As for the household food scraps, the black bin is sufficing for

the summer, but what about the winter household food scraps, what would I do with them? I am just starting a home business in natural therapies. What kind of impression would people have if they entered the house to smell garbage? That would be darn embarrassing and I didn’t want to go back to that! I tried worm composting but it didn’t suit me. What would I do? I was also enjoying having less garbage to dispose of as well. Another problem was that the quality of the garden soil wasn’t that great so the plants need something better.

Well, all of the problems have been solved! I used up the most of the leftover wood to build a bigger composter. In the fall, I will throw the leaves in it. I also plan to invite both of my immediate neighbours to put their leaves in the bin as well. There will be less mess with wind blowing leaves in my yard. I will have enough leaves to save some for use next summer to put in the black compost bin. I will stockpile the food scraps over the winter by letting them freeze outdoors, in the composter, or in the garage. I won’t have to bag any garden waste in the fall, and my plants will enjoy the rich soil from the composter. I also have the pride of knowing that I built it all by myself and proudly display it to others. I saved the scrap wood (previously living trees) from going to the dump and put it to good use! ... and my yard is tidy!

"Trish H. is a recent 2014 graduate from our MCR program and has hit the ground running. She's participated in our grasscycling championship, trade shows and loves to chat with friends and neighbours about waste."

Concerned about summer weight? Your collector is!

Growing season is at its peak and as a result the City’s waste collectors are dealing with high volumes of yard waste in addition to the usual household garbage. On a typical summer day, a collector picks up an average of 3000 bags of garbage from more than 700 homes. That’s about 22,000 kgs of garbage – the equivalent of lifting about 27 smart cars a day! Grass clippings are the biggest contributor to waste volumes this time of year. Residents are encouraged to Go Bagless and leave the grass clippings on the lawn while mowing. It helps reduce waste, promotes healthy lawns, and reduces the number of heavy bags lifted by collectors. For the safety of collectors, the City is reminding residents to please keep each garbage can or bag under 20 kilograms (44 pounds). Brush and tree trimmings should also be below this weight limit, bundled, securely tied, and no longer than 1.2 m (four feet). For more information about waste collection please visit edmonton.ca/wastecollection.

Take a peek into Edmonton's world-class waste management centre

In celebration of Environment Week, the City of Edmonton invites residents to come for a free tour of the Edmonton Waste Management Centre (EWMC) and see why Edmonton is a world leader in turning waste into resources.

Dates: Tuesday, June 3 – Friday, June 6, 2014
Tour Times: 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
Location: Edmonton Waste Management Centre, 13111 Meridian Street
Admission: Free

Reservations are required. Please call: 780-496-5698.


During a two-hour tour of the facilities you can learn how:

• Your recyclables are sorted and prepared for market
• Your garbage is used to create valuable compost at one of North America’s largest composting facilities
• Decomposing garbage inside a landfill is used to create electricity
• E-waste such as computers and TVs are recycled
• A new waste-to-biofuels facility will turn non-recyclable and non-compostable waste into ethanol
• Close-loop paper recycling takes place, producing chemical-free paper 

Please note that tours are not appropriate for children younger than nine years of age.

For more information:

Visit Environment Week Tours or call 780-496-5698

Be a Better Jet Setter, by MCRs Sam P. and Leigh-Anna P.

How to Reduce Waste While Travelling

Before we started the MCR course, we had planned a road trip down the Pacific Coast. We love to travel, and get very excited at the prospect of relaxing and enjoying new places. Within the first few classes of our course, we started to become more aware of how wasteful travel can be and came up with an idea. We would use our road trip as an opportunity to change our own behaviours and educate others about how to reduce waste while away from home!

While planning our environmentally-conscious trip, we quickly learned that the key to reducing our waste while on the road was planning ahead. Here are some of the most beneficial ideas we came up with:

1. Make a packing list. Forgetting to pack personal items is an easy way to increase waste by buying and consuming more products. Being prepared will not only reduce your stress prior to and during the trip but it will also decrease the amount of packaging waste created on your trip.

2. Bring toiletries in reusable containers. Travel size toiletries are convenient and take up less space in your bag, but they produce a lot more waste than buying regular-sized or bulk bottles. Plus, those little bottles rarely get recycled. They're usually too small to make it through the machine sorting process, even in places that have comprehensive plastics recycling. If you're buying them, plan on saving them to refill for your next trip.

Pro tip: Avoid the urge to use the toiletries in the hotel washrooms. If the hotel staff notice that even the smallest amount of product is used, they will throw out the whole bottle, wasting a lot of product and packaging.

3. Bring a reusable water bottle and travel mug. Disposable coffee cups add up, especially on a road trip! As an added bonus, the reusable mugs keep your coffee hot for longer as an added bonus. You can even bring a reusable beverage container on a plane as long as it is empty when you go through security.

Pick up some local produce to snack on

4. Plan meals ahead of time. Takeout food creates a lot of waste from plastic or Styrofoam containers. Prepare meals and snacks at home, or bring reuseable containers and cutlery for takeout. Cloth napkins will save the amount of paper you use up, and they work wonders for spills and kids! Try grocery shopping instead of always eating at restaurants, and if it's in the budget, choose sit-down places to avoid being served on disposable dishes.



5. Research the waste process of the destination you’re visiting. You don't have to go crazy, but it helps to know what items you are going to be able to recycle and whether the city you are in has a municipal compost system. In places that don’t have recycling or have limited recycling, save your recyclables to dispose of them when you get home! If you're extra keen, you can save organic material in a leak proof container to compost when you return.

Many cities offer bike rentals

6. Use alternative transportation. Explore your destination in a unique and exciting way! Public transportation, like the bus or subway, is an easy, Earth-friendly travel method. Renting bicycles and walking are pleasant ways to explore the city or town at your own pace. In larger cities, bicycle taxis are great ways to explore downtown without creating excess pollution.

Keep it gorgeous!

These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reducing your waste while travelling. Get creative and look for opportunities to reduce waste all along your trip. It’s very easy to get caught up in the excitement of travelling and let your waste habits take a backseat to convenience, but it’s important that we make conscious choices with our garbage. The place you're visiting is beautiful; help keep it that way! We all want to continue to have an amazing, waste-free world to travel for years to come.

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Samantha P. and Leigh-Anna P. took the MCR course together in 2014 and jumped straight into volunteering. Between the two of them, they've hosted booths, joined pop-up compost sessions, and done a whole lot of chit-chatting about waste.

Do you have any fantastic less-waste tips for travelers? Share them in the comments below!

Go Bagless: The No. 1 Way to Reduce Your Waste

The City of Edmonton is asking residents to Go Bagless this summer and leave the grass clippings on the lawn instead of bagging them for collection. Grass clippings account for almost half the waste collected during the summer months.

“Edmonton is making progress on its goal of keeping 90% of household waste out of landfills,” says Mayor Don Iveson. “This goal will be achieved if we all make an effort to reduce the amount of waste that needs to be picked up.”

An average household that bags their clippings sets out 40 to 50 bags each year. About 40,000 tonnes of grass are collected annually in Edmonton. This is equivalent to the weight of 3,077 City buses.

“I grasscycle at home because it is good for the environment and for my lawn, and it reduces the amount of waste we set out for collection,” said Mayor Iveson.

Grass clippings quickly decompose and naturally fertilize the lawn, meaning less chemical fertilizer is needed. It also reduces the need for watering and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

To learn about other ways to reduce household waste and help Edmonton reach its goal visit 90WaysTo90.com. Residents are also invited to submit short videos of how they reduce their waste for a chance to win one of three mini iPads.

For more information, please visit 90WaysTo90.com.