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No More Excuses.
NOW IS THE TIME TO RECYCLE ORGANICS.
LEARN ! PLAN ! ACT ! ACHIEVE !

WHY?

There are so many reasons……

  • When organic wastes – such as food, yard waste and paper – are disposed of in landfills, they produce methane, a powerful greenhouse gas over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Throw organics in the landfill and you are adding to climate change.
  • Landfills are responsible for almost one quarter of Canada’s methane emissions – the #2 source of methane emissions. And it’s the organics in landfills which are causing this.
  • Recycling organic residuals is the key to achieving high diversion rates. The use of landfill space can be reduced by at least one-third when organics are recycled.
  • Soil health and productivity are dependent on organic matter in the form of compost or humus to provide the sustenance for the biological diversity in the soil. Plants depend on this to convert materials into plant-available nutrients and to keep the soil well-aerated. Additional benefits include the reduced need for pesticide usage to ward off soil-borne and other plant diseases.
  • Compost offers a significant answer to climate change mitigation. Compost’s return to the soil serves as a “carbon bank”, helping to store carbon thereby removing it from the atmosphere.

So many good reasons and all it takes is one thoughtful act … COMPOST !

WHAT?

Composting is Nature’s Way of Recycling. It involves microbes breaking down once-living materials, transforming this into organic matter – compost – for return to our soils for Life again.

Composting is a recipe – involving both carbon-rich materials (such as dead leaves, dried grass clippings, paper, cardboard and wood) and nitrogen-rich materials (such as food scraps, manure (of all kinds), fresh grass clippings). Along with the carbon/nitrogen “ingredients” (our industry calls this “feedstocks”), composting needs air, moisture and time.

Composting can take different forms and use different feedstocks – small units to large “Earth factories” … more about this in the HOW? Section below.

But for now – here are some examples that can be composted from “home, work & play” places.

IN THE KITCHEN

Fruits Scraps – Vegetable Trimmings – Egg Shells – Tea Bags (not with nylon fabric (looks like fancy linen but is plastic) – Coffee Grounds & Filters – Meat, Fish, Bones & Dairy Products – Soiled Paper/Cardboard

AT THE OFFICE

Coffee Grounds & Filters – Tea Bags (not with nylon fabric (looks like fancy linen but is plastic) – Lunch Scraps – Paper Towels from the Washroom – And if you have a cafeteria, Food Scraps (both from food preparation and any leftover remains)

WASHROOMS

Paper Towels – And what gets flushed down the toilets, can be turned into biosolids at the wastewater treatment plant for composting

IN THE GARDEN

Leaves – Plant Trimmings – Grass (but it is better for you to just leave it on the lawn and let it degrade where it is) – Branches – Wood (not pressure-treated)

ON THE FARM

Manure – Crop Residues – Deadstock

RESTAURANTS,

…SUPERMARKETS & Other FOOD PREPARATION/MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS

Food Scraps (both from food preparation & sales and any leftover remains) – Soiled Paper & Cardboard – There’s lots more, just look at what you are currently throwing in the garbage & think “what is/was natural” (consider doing a waste audit to get a full picture)

AT AN EVENT

This is where you think in advance about the type of foodservice ware you are using – the best is reusable but you might be able to use certified compostable materials – Food Scraps (both from food preparation & sales and any leftover remains) – Soiled Paper & Cardboard

HOW?

There are so many tried & true options – It depends on your situation……

In Your Backyard ….

(click on the image to download)

Want to build your own composter?

(click on the image to download)

And here’s what lots of people focused on soil health are building – a Johnson-Su Bioreactor !
We love David Johnson & Hui-Chun Su !

JOHNSON-SU COMPOSTING BIOREACTORS

On-Site … such as at a community garden or centre, restaurant, hotel, micro-brewery

Collect and Direct your organic residuals to a Centralized Organics Recycling Facility

The type of organics which can be collected might differ from one program to another. Please check with your municipality or waste hauler as to the specifics of what is accepted. It is important to adhere to this as contamination could harm workers or facility equipment, be costly to remove (if it even can) and impacts what the finished soil products can be used for. THANK YOU FOR DOING YOUR BEST.

From Curbside to Compost:

Step 1:

Organics can be collected in either an organics-only truck or the same truck as garbage or recycling, but in a different compartment. Once collected, organics are brought to a transfer station and then sent to an organics processing facility.

Step 2:

Once at an organics processing facility, the organics are unloaded onto a Tipping Floor. From there, it is pre-processed to remove any physical contaminant materials (as much as possible – best not to be there in the first place).

Step 3:

At this stage, the recycling process depends on the technology that is being used at the facility. All of them work to support the microorganisms which break down the organics to produce the soil-destined product.

Here’s a great link that explains all the steps involved at the City of Calgary Composting Facility with added information about their plans to expand to include Anaerobic Digestion (this is when the process doesn’t use oxygen and also has the potential to produce energy).

How the Calgary Composting Facility works

The details of the composting facility at Walker Environmental Group can also be seen in this link:

22-WEG-Compost-Facility.pdf (walkerind.com)

To better understand all that goes in to the composting process, check out this detailed doc from the State of New Hampshire.

Food Scrap Management – New Hampshire

Step 4:

After time and effort and lots of diligent care & testing, the result of everyone’s contribution is the creation of high quality compost which can be used to feed and nourish our soils. Great work everyone! 

Special thanks to the communication materials from City of Toronto, City of Calgary, Walker Environmental Group and the State of New Hampshire.

Here’s links to various information sources that could be specifically relevant to your circumstances and organics.

For Businesses & Organizations who don’t have access to municipal organics collection programs, DO A WASTE AUDIT FIRST and check out the How-to’s here:

Composting for Supermarkets

Biosolids Composting

Composting for Restaurants

How To Start Composting at Your Restaurant or Business

Composting at Special Events

Here’s what Greater Sudbury offers for their community:

Composting and Recycling at Special Events (greatersudbury.ca)

The Many Great Uses of Compost !

Check out this great information resource proudly developped by the NSW Environment Protection Authority, Cool Compost is a one-stop online resource centre about compost.

Through a series of videos, podcasts, fact sheets and specifications Cool Compost showcases the benefits of compost across five target audiences – graziers, vegetable growers, landscapers, councils and government agencies.

Cool Compost – Taking compost in our community to the next level (circularag.com.au)

Some facts from the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO.org):

  • Up to half of our household waste could be composted to nurture our soil.
  • 95% of our food comes from soils
  • 33% of soils are degraded
  • Soils supply 15 of the 18 naturally occurring chemical elements essential to plants
  • There are more living organisms in a tablespoon of soil than people on Earth
  • Over the last 70 years, the level of vitamins and nutrients in food has drastically decreased
  • Healthy soils:

Recycling organics means less greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. And using compost feeds the soil.
Our soils then return this kindness with healthier food, cleaner water, richer biodiversity and a calmer climate.

THANK YOU FOR DOING YOUR BEST !

The Compost Council of Canada is the national non-profit, member-driven organization dedicated to advocating and advancing organics residuals recycling and compost use. The Council serves as the central resource and network for the compost and organics recycling industry in Canada and, through its members, contributes to the environmental sustainability of the communities in which they operate.