The snow has melted, the winds are blowing at 90 km/hr, snow warnings are in full effect, and it’s still light out when I leave work. Must be spring in Alberta! This is the season the compost team has been looking forward to for months.
In October, City Hall started composting. I’m happy to report that just six months later, every single office in City Hall is now contributing to the vermicompost. With 11 collection containers and over 150 staff members participating, we had more than enough compost to start our initial harvest.
Thanks to the wonderful support from Herb Gale, our fabulous volunteer Master Composter, and the fantastic work of Mark Stumpf-Allen and Karen-Lewis Caron in the Waste Management Branch, and all the employees and City Hall guests who have been contributing their organics, we now have humus that’s ready to nourish the plants in and around City Hall.
Armed with small rubber containers with hole-punched lids, we proceeded to extract half of the compost. Since the red-wiggler worms that we use in our vermi- compost are quick to reproduce, we were even able to pick some worms out and donate them to staff who have been interested in vermicomposting at home.
Herb does an excellent job working with the custodial staff to maintain the bin. He ensures that the compost is the right moisture level, only organic materials are being put in the bin, and all the waste is properly buried. Since the bin receives contributions on an ongoing basis, all the materials were at different stages of decomposition. When we started extracting, we started moving all the material around. Despite some unpleasant smells, which Mark assured me were normal, (large amounts of decomposing food… who would have thought) the process was actually really fun.
When we were done getting the more mature material at the bottom of the bin, we gave the remaining contents a good stir to get some oxygen, and then we put a layer of leaves and some soil on top to create a new bed for incoming contributions. Within an hour, the smell had subsided and more was being added to the bin.
The three small containers have remained untouched. By the start of 20th National Composting Week, May3- 9th, we will be ready to spread the humus over the plant and flower beds in and around City Hall!
For more information about composting at your home or business there is a lot of information available our website or in theWaste Management Branch Compost Brochure.
We’ll be sure to keep you updated on all the events planned for National Compost Week! Stay tuned.