From October 6-31, Green Action Centre is piloting an organic waste collection
service with a number of local businesses and residents. The idea is simple: we take organic waste – such as foods scraps, coffee grounds, paper towels – from homes and workplaces, and make sure it is responsibly composted. The pilot is part of a feasibility study looking at whether there is a demand for this type of service in Winnipeg.
About 40% of the waste from our homes, offices and workplaces is compostable material. In landfills, organic waste decomposes anaerobically turning into toxic leachate and methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. When organic waste is aerobically composted, it produces a nutrient rich soil amendment coveted by gardeners everywhere. While backyard composting is a great solution for residents with some yard space, many workplaces and multi-family dwellings lack the space for on-site composting. Thus the idea for a collection service!
The Forks, a local veteran of on-site composting, is generously composting waste collected during the pilot in their BIOvator. This in-vessel compost system creates ideal conditions for trillions of microbes to consume organic waste and produce high quality compost.
A big thank you to Assiniboine Credit Union, International Institute of Sustainable Development, Little Sister Coffee Maker, Neechi Commons, Winnipeg Airports Authority, and residents of Osborne Village for their participation.
This post has been written by Kelly Kuryk.
Awesome! I would love to see city-wide compost collection put into place. We can’t fit all our household compost into our little composter, so a lot still goes to waste..
Hi Suzanne,
Glad to see you are composting! If you have the space, you should consider getting a second bin which provides you with more room to add your compostable materials. Also more than one bin makes it easier to harvest finished compost as one bin can be used for curing your compost while the other one is used to add new materials.