Composting

Organics such as grass, leaves and plant waste make up approximately 13 per cent of residential waste and food waste makes up another 18 per cent of household garbage making composting an important tool to reduce your waste by over 30 per cent. Here are some of the options the City of Airdrie has to offer residents:

What is Composting
Composting is a biological process breaking down kitchen, lawn and garden waste into a soil like material known as humus or compost. It is a great tool to reduce your waste by 30 per cent.

Why Compost?

  1. Reduce Your Waste: Our landfill space is limited. Compostable kitchen and yard wastes make up approximately 32 per cent of all household waste. Composting is an easy and effective way for you to divert 1/3 of your waste from a landfill, thus prolonging landfill life.
  2. Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions: When kitchen and yard wastes are buried in landfills they decompose without the presence of oxygen. Without oxygen not only do these waste take up to 100 times longer to decompose, but the process leads to the production of climate altering greenhouse gas emissions. When kitchen and yard waste decomposes in a landfill, methane gas is produced. Methane gas from landfills comprises approximately 5 - 10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions produced.
  3. Improves Soil Quality: Think of compost as free fertilizer. Compost increases the ability of soil to hold water and boosts its nutrient and organic matter content allowing your houseplants, garden and lawn to thrive.

Basic approach to composting

  1. Collect leaves, grass, yard waste and food scraps
  2. Place materials into your composter
  3. Mix materials once a week
  4. Sprinkle with water to maintain dampness as needed

Compost Tools and Tips

  • Earth Machine: The Earth Machine is a pre-manufactured backyard composting unit. Earth Machines can be purchased for - $45 for residents of Airdrie or MD Rockyview, and $65 for non-residents - at the City of Airdrie Recycling Depot (15 East Lake Hill). For tips on using your Earth Machine, visit www.earthmachine.com.
  • Backyard Composting: For information on how to set up, use and troubleshoot your backyard composter, please see the Alberta Environment Guide to Backyard Composting. (1.83 MB, .PDF)
  • Vermicomposting: For those of us who do not have access to backyard composting, vermicomposting or worm composting is an excellent option. For information on vermicomposting visit the City of Airdrie Vermicomposting Guide. (5 MB, .PDF)
  • City of Airdrie Centralized Yard Waste Drop-Off: From May 1st - October 31st residents can dispose of grass clippings and leaves at the City of Airdrie Recycling Depot. This material is taken from the Recycling Depot to the Transfer Station where it is composted. The finished material is used by the City of Airdrie Parks Department on the sports fields and flower beds throughout the city.
  • Grass Cycling at the Recycling Depot
    The most effective way to deal with grass clippings is to leave them on the lawn. This returns valuable nutrients to your lawn making your lawn healthier, thicker and greener. Grass cycling also saves you time and effort as you no longer have to stop every few minutes to fill bags with clippings. More information on Lawn care.

Community Compost, May 1 - October 31
Grass clippings and leaves will be accepted at the Recycling Depot in spring, weather depending. Sorry, NO tree branches, sod or pet waste will be accepted

For further information on composting call Waste & Recycling Services at (403) 948-0246.

 

Community & Opportunity