A week of composting fun

The Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) is inviting residents to celebrate International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) from May 1 to 7, with a number of events being held to recognize this global event:

• Sunday May 1, 10am – 1pm – Experience for yourself what compost can do for your garden by picking up a free sample from the SCRD booth at the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden’s annual plant sale, 5941 Mason Rd, Sechelt.

• Saturday May 7, 2-3:30pm – Learn how to effectively compost your food scraps and yard waste at the free Home Composting 101 Workshop at the Sunshine Coast Community Services Society’s Community Gardens at 5638 Inlet Avenue, Sechelt. Pre-register at infrastructure@scrd.ca.

• Sunday May 8, 9:30-10am – Take a free guided tour of Salish Soils’ large-scale composting system. Meet outside the main office, 5800 Black Bear Road, Sechelt.

You can also bring your composting questions and learn about the Green Cone food scraps digester at one of the information booths hosted by the SCRD, Sargeant Bay Society and Ruby Lake Lagoon Society:

• May 1, Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden, 10am – 1pm

• May 2, Outside EarthFair Bookstore, Madeira Park, 10am – 3pm

• May 3, Wilson Creek Marketplace IGA,  10am –2pm

• May 5, Gibsons Marketplace IGA, 10am – 2pm

• May 6, Inside Trail Bay Mall, Sechelt  10am –2pm

For residents of the SCRD, two options exist for composting food: you can take food scraps to a local composting facility – Gibsons Recycling Depot or Salish Soils – or you can compost at home.

In the SCRD, about 12,000 tonnes of waste are sent to the landfill every year. A waste composition audit of residential solid waste conducted in 2014 found that 35% of this is food waste, the largest component that can be diverted.

For more information, please visit www.scrd.ca/Yard-Food-Waste.

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