12-11-08 Curbside Compost Pickup

As I passed down Steinbach streets throughout much of October, I couldn’t help notice hundreds of bags of leaves piled on curbsides waiting for a trip to our landfill. I knew that in the landfill they would be covered up by other garbage where they would sit forever.

Fortunately, this approach to the disposal of organic matter is rapidly coming to a close in Manitoba. For example, St. Pierre and the RM of De Salaberry began picking up organic material separately from regular garbage on June 26^th of this year. This includes not only yard and garden “waste” but food “waste” as well. St. Pierre is working together with the Compo-stages Manitoba Services Coop which will allow them to use their recently acquired windrow turner to aerate the compost materials.

A little further away, the City of Brandon has now completed an 18-month Compost Pilot Project which allowed some residents to put organics out for separate collection on specified days. The City supplied residents with a small container for the kitchen, a larger container for the curb with instructions as to what goes into the bins. Residents were encouraged to line both containers with compostable bags. The finished compost product was then made available to residents. What was left over the City used in its parks and gardens.  When I called the City of Brandon recently, I was told that the program had been so successful that they are now expanding it to include the entire city.

These two success stories bring my attention back to Steinbach. Why, I wonder, could our city not do something similar? We take pride in our prosperity and rapid growth. So what keeps us at the back of the composting line in the province? One only needs a little imagination to envision the pile of compostable material Steinbach generates that ends up in the landfill never to serve a useful purpose again. 

Those thoughts were followed by a call to Eldon Wallman who is responsible for Solid Waste Disposal, the Landfill Site, and the Eco-centre in Steinbach. Earlier dialogue with Eldon had assured me that he was progressive in his thinking and was trying to figure out a cost-effective way to do more composting at the Landfill Site. For a number of years now he has encouraged residents bringing material to the landfill to separate regular garbage from compostable matter which the city has turned into some amazing compost. For the past few summers Eldon has also placed large containers throughout the city to collect grass clippings and other compostable products.

I was pleased to hear from Eldon that beginning next summer we will, in fact, have a curbside compost pickup in Steinbach as well. Three cheers for Eldon! I encourage all Steinbach residents to cooperate fully with this new program as it continues to unfold in our community. Basically what it means is that we have to begin thinking and acting in new ways. We can handle that, don’t you think?

Jack Heppner