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By: Michele Kading Posted: 2:01 AM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 29, 2022
Many gardeners, like Roy Kading (pictured) use traditional backyard bins to compost yard waste and food scraps.
I have been composting for 35 years. I did not start composting to divert my kitchen waste from landfill sites or to fight climate change. I lived on the 14th floor of a high-rise apartment and wanted to reduce my trips to the nasty garbage chute at the end of the hall.
I have been composting for 35 years. I did not start composting to divert my kitchen waste from landfill sites or to fight climate change. I lived on the 14th floor of a high-rise apartment and wanted to reduce my trips to the nasty garbage chute at the end of the hall.
I enrolled as a volunteer Master Composter to learn the art and science of backyard composting. Participants had to set up a composter as part of the intensive 10-week course. We were also trained to be compost ambassadors.
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Since I lived in an apartment, I set up a worm bin to compost with worms. I filled a recycling bin with newspaper bedding and added some red wiggler worms that would eat my garbage. The results were astounding. The worms reduced a pail of vegetable scraps to high-quality finished compost in about two weeks. And, there was no smell except very briefly when adding new food scraps.
Many gardeners, including my dad, use more conventional backyard composters for kitchen scraps. The high-nitrogen food scraps (greens) are composted together with high-carbon yard waste (browns). Managing the bin properly minimizes unpleasant odors.
The main limitation of using backyard bins in Manitoba is our long winters. The decomposers (bacteria) slow down or stop working in the winter. Many food scraps are also unsuitable for backyard bins. This includes meat, dairy, and oil products. These still end up in the dump along with other organic materials such as weeds with seeds, pet waste, and disposable diapers.
As these organics decompose at the dump, they produce methane – a greenhouse gas that is roughly 400 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
It will take more than backyard composting to tackle this environmental issue. If Winnipeg is serious about diverting organic wastes from landfill sites to meet climate change targets, we will need two things. The first is an efficient curbside pick-up program to collect organic waste from houses, apartments, offices, restaurants, malls, hospitals, nursing homes, and businesses. The second is a modern indoor industrial composting facility that that will accept a wide range of organic materials. Other Canadian cities like Calgary, Edmonton, and Hamilton are leading the way. Some cities already compost pet waste, disposable diapers, and bio-solids from sewage treatment plants.
In all cases, the end result is a rich garden compost that can be used in parks, gardens, and farms.
Michele Kading St. Vital community correspondent
Michele Kading is a community correspondent for St. Vital.
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