Research shows that 40% of the average person's garbage can be composted. Composting will save you money on garbage bills and create rich, fertile soil to add to your garden or houseplants at the same time the environment also benefits by recycling valuable organic material instead of dumping it in our landfills or burning it in incinerators. Composting in the Powell River area has the potential to divert approximately 4,100 tonnes of waste from the landfill each year.
Vermicomposting is the process of having redworms and other decomposer organisms process our organic waste and turn it into a great natural fertilizer. Vermicomposting, like all composting is easy, requires very few supplies, and can be done by anyone. A simple box or container makes a fine worm bin and keeps worms and decomposing food scraps in one area. i've been a vermicomposter for over 35 years, fed my family and sold produce from the organic garden nourished by my composter's output during much of that time. The first thing i built after moving up here to start my new life in Powell River was my dual chamber composter. It's already, one year later fueling the produce i'm eating everyday from the new veggie garden.
Powell River has a wealth of resources and people dedicated to composting and hands on organic farming. Yesterday i visited the Powell River Regional District Compost Education Centre located in the community gardens of the Community Resource Centre [CRC] at 4752 Joyce Ave. It's a great place to see composting in action and learn various ways to turn food waste into food plants. Among lottsa other things they have a converted freezer composter which is an invention by Bert Baillie. There is a Career Link Jobs Option group, employing 8 local folks, who will pickup your old freezer for free, safely dispose of the compressor and gas, then convert it to a modified in-vessel composter. Please check it out, talk about a win-win situation.
The Regional District's 'Let's Talk Trash' program and website's goal is getting to zero waste through action and education. They are also studying the prospect of building a larger in-vessel composting facility in the area soon, good on 'em. Another neat thing the CRC produces is the Calender Guide. The Powell River Farmers Institute is another great local group dedicated to the well-being of us all through its support of the Farmers Markets every weekend, Its Seedy Saturday seed savers exchange and other projects.
The fact is there are many ways you and i can make a difference to the quality of our lives and the environment we share with the larger community we are immersed in. One of easiest, most productive and enjoyable of them is growing our own food from the energy contained in the compost we generate from our kitchen and garden scraps, the circle of life, while at the same time keeping waste out of our landfills and creating local jobs. Win-Win-Win-Eh!
