It’s Compost Awareness Week!

Turn your food scraps into garden fertilizer for healthier produce

Your soil loves compost – and so do we! The City of Vaughan has proclaimed May 7 to May 13, 2023 Compost Awareness Week. This year’s theme, For Healthier Soil, Healthier Food … Compost!, highlights how compost helps feed the world by making soil healthier … which, in turn, produces healthier food!

Learn everything you need to know about composting:

What is compost?

Compost is the natural process of recycling organic matter, such as food scraps, into a valuable fertilizer that enriches soil and plants.

Why is it important to compost?

By turning organics into compost and using it on our farmlands, we can create healthy soils that produce healthier food and higher yields. Compost also reduces the need to use fertilizer and pesticides, improves water quality, conserves water and stores carbon in soil – which all help to reduce climate change. Compost also decreases food shortages worldwide.

Are you interested in adopting backyard composting into your day-to-day life? You can buy a backyard composter from the City and reduce your household’s curbside waste by up to 30 per cent! To purchase one, visit vaughan.ca/ServiceVaughan.

How do I use a backyard composter?

All City backyard composters include instructions on turning your fruit and vegetable scraps and leaf and yard materials into garden fertilizer. Here are the steps to follow:

• Step 1: Pick a level spot on the ground where there is good water drainage and significant sun exposure. Dig a shallow hole, one or two inches deep, for a secure spot to place the composter.
• Step 2: Put organic materials, such as banana peels, apple cores, cabbage stocks and eggshells in the compost bin. When adding fruit and vegetable scraps, either dig them into the existing compost immediately or cover those items with soil or a layer of leaves. You can also add nitrogen-rich green materials, such as grass clippings, and carbon-rich brown materials, such as leaves or straw. Chop or shred these materials into small pieces to make the composting process faster.
• Step 3: Keep the compost moist, like the dampness of a wrung-out sponge, but not wet. If it gets too dry, water it with a watering can or hose. Using a tight-fitting cover will keep it from becoming too wet from rainfall and deter animals and flies.
• Step 4: Provide air to the compost by turning it with a pitchfork or shovel.

When your compost is ready to use, it should be dark and crumbly, with most of the materials blended and unidentifiable. You can screen the finished compost to remove coarse items or materials that did not fully decompose, such as shells, corncobs or twigs – but save these items for your next compost batch!

Bury your compost deep into the ground, below the topsoil, before planting flowers and plants. Alternatively, use it as mulch to top-dress around plants and trees to help retain moisture, smother weeds and prevent soil compaction, or on lawns as part of a seed-starting mix or a top dressing.

For more tips and a complete list of materials that can and cannot be used for compost, visit vaughan.ca/compost.

Leaf and yard waste and green bin collection

If you don’t have a composter at home, you can still support the cause! The City’s leaf and yard waste and green bin collection programs allow you to “curbside compost.” The City collects yard waste and green bin organics and takes the materials to facilities to be composted. Then, the materials get used at farmlands across Ontario. 

The City accepts a wide range of organic material through Vaughan’s green bin program. Green bins can be used for items that cannot go in your backyard composter, such as meat, bones, pet waste and diapers. To buy a new green bin or exchange a damaged one, visit vaughan.ca/ServiceVaughan.

For more information about waste services in Vaughan, visit vaughan.ca/waste.

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