Maureen Peniuk completed her Master Composter training in fall 2007.
I am a member of the Green Team at Crescent Fort Rouge United Church. I am also a big fan of two-bin compost systems – where compost is added to one bin while the other is left to mature.
In 2010 we installed a four foot by four foot bin (made from old fence pieces from a neighbour who was building a new fence and discarding the old one) with a division down the centre, thinking a two foot by four foot area would be sufficient for the amount of compost we would collect.
Little did we know how successful our program would be! Just two years later we doubled the size of our compost operation. More recently we added commercial compost bins to give the area a neater appearance. The contents of these smaller bins are transferred to the larger compartments.
We harvest our mature compost each fall (the compost is used in the church’s adjacent Memory Garden) and every year we are producing more compost.This is thanks to the dedication of church members who live in apartments and bring their compost on a weekly basis. We have also noticed folks in the community who do not attend the church bringing in their compost. We feel great to be providing this community compost opportunity and are already considering how we will respond to a need for even more compost capacity! Check out an excerpt from the Church Newsletter.
This blog was submitted by Maureen Peniuk, November 30, 2014
This is cool. Does your compost accept anyone to drop off? We live not so far and our composting system currently is not sufficient for our winter waste because it freezes and just piles up vs collapsing as it does in the summer warmth. I’d love to drop it off! Composting easily reduces our garbage waste by half.
Hello Maggie,
I believe there is good signage at this compost site, so as long as you follow the directions of where to put your greens and browns, you’re good to go. Keep it up!