Compost: Bin there . . . do that

CATHERINE PORTER, Toronto Star, August 03, 2009

Five weeks without collections a reminder that solution might be in our own backyards.

You could call it an unplanned garbage audit. During the strike, many of us got close and personal with the things we normally slam a lid on.

Did it get you thinking about ways to cut back on all that trash?

Backyard composters were a popular item before the city introduced the green bin program almost seven years ago. During the 39-day civic workers' strike, they started to make a comeback. The attractions are obvious: Composters are easy to set up and easy to use. They produce great soil for your garden and, most important, they soak up a third of your garbage.

It happens to be the stinkiest third – the bits of rotting vegetables and fruit that turn garbage pails into soup tureens.

Worried about raccoons or, worse, rats? As long as you do your composting correctly, experts say, rodents shouldn't be problem. And getting it right just means mixing kitchen waste evenly with carbon-rich material such as dry leaves or shredded newspaper.

"This is fairly forgiving technology," says Mike Nevin, Toronto's reigning compost king.

Nevin, who runs FoodShare's compost program, collects hundreds of kilograms of food waste per week from the non-profit agency's warehouse and kitchen. He even composts meat and fish.

"It's not nuclear fission. If you get it wrong, you can correct it."

Below is a quick guide to setting up a backyard composter.

Click here for a video: How to Compost

Setting it up

1. Find flat place in your yard. Or make a place flat. Regardless of the type of compost you buy, you are going to need about a square-metre of space.

2. Insulate the bottom of your new bin with twigs and leaves. This will help with drainage.

3. Assemble the basic ingredients: Browns and greens. Browns are carbonous items, like dried leaves, wood shavings or shredded newspaper. Save this page and rip it up.

4 . Greens are most of the things you would throw into your green bin, sans meat, fish, diapers and milk products. Nevin’s mantra for composting is “Chop, mix and bury.” Don’t throw that overripe avocado in whole. Chop it down first to bite-size first. The smaller it is, the quicker it will break down into soil.

5. When your kitchen green bin in teaming, empty it in the middle of your composter and cover it with equal amounts of brown. This is the “bury” part. The Composting Council of Canada’s Susan Antler describes this as making a lasagna – “green and brown alternativing.”

6.Add a dusting of soil to the top, to boost the crew of micro-organisms needed to start breaking the food down.

7. Leave it for at least one week. That way, it will become “hot” as the microorganisms feast on the organics. When Nevin sticks a meat thermometer into one of his compost bins at FoodShare, the needle hits 70 degrees Celsius.

8. “Turn” your compost every week or two. That means stick a pole into and stir things around a bit. Like a good bottle of champagne, your compost needs air.

9. Keep your compost moist – like a wrung-out sponge.

10. In three months, your old tea bags and rotten strawberries will be transformed into brown, crumbly soil.

More info, visit Compost Concol of Canada’s website: www.compost.org

What can go into it:

Fruit and vegetable scraps; coffee grounds; rice and pasta; egg shells, tea bags; paper napkins and towels; plant trimmings.

Don’t compost: meat, fish, bones, dairy products; oils or fats; sauces; pet poo; sauces; diapers; diseased plants; weeds with seeds.

Where to get one:

1 . The Earth Machine. $24 plus tax

Normally sold by the city, the Compost Council of Canada is selling these at cost to new composting converts until city staff are back at their posts. They’ll even drop it off at your home. Call 416-535-0240 or e-mail info@compost.org.

It is considered a rodent-proof, idiot-proof compost bin – easy to set up, easy to open and inpenetrable.

2. Garden Gourmet Composter, $39.97 Home Depot/ Canadian Tire $59.99

Similar to the Earth Machine, this plastic composter makes for a tighter squeeze.

3 . Rolling Composter, $169, Lee Valley

This is a drum, which allows you to turn the compost without any of the awkward back-twisting. It is smaller, and takes only four weeks to break food scraps down into compost. The liquid from your decomposing food is collected, and you can use this “compost tea” as natural fertilizer for your plants.

4. Sun-Mar Garden Composter, range from $329-$479, in two sizes. Home Depot/ Home Hardware

A bigger, space-age drum compost, that has the added perk of spitting the compost out for you too. No shovels required. Reviewers claim it can take dog poo no problem. For the die-hard composter with lots of space in the yard.

AT LONG LAST, GARBAGE DAY
Regular waste collection resumes tomorrow. In case you've forgotten the drill, we've got some tips:

GARBAGE

• Resume separating organic waste into your green bin.

• For your first and second collection days after the strike, you may place an unlimited number of bags at the curb. No tags are required.

YARD WASTE

• Etobicoke residents can place yard waste at the curb beginning this week.

• For the rest of the city, yard waste will not be collected until two weeks from now.

RECYCLING

• For your first and second collection days, you may place an unlimited amount of recycling material at the curb. Use clear plastic bags for excess