The heat of summer has arrived and so may a swarm of flies in your garbage can. Food scraps and food-stained pieces of garbage are an attractive feast for all manner of pests, but there is something you can do.
Removing food scraps from your garbage reduces the appeal for flies, rodents and bears, and happens to be good for the planet, too.
No worries if you aren’t interested in composting in your backyard, as the Powell River Regional District has a free compost drop-off pilot project near Town Centre Mall in Westview.
Here is how to get involved:
Step one: choose a small, sealable bucket, such as an ice cream pail, to collect food scraps in your kitchen.
Step two: line the bucket with a little newspaper to help absorb any liquids and make cleaning easier.
Step three: start collecting food scraps in your kitchen bucket. The compost drop-off pilot program accepts all kinds of food scraps in all conditions. A good rule of thumb is, "If it grows, it goes." This means items such as meat, bones, leftovers gone bad, plate scrapings from dinner, rotten fruit from your tree, vegetable peels, yard waste (minus the invasive weeds), coffee grounds, used paper napkins, toothpicks and eggshells are all accepted. Go to letstalktrash.ca for a complete list. You may want to keep stinkier items, such as fish waste, in your freezer. Freeze them in a paper bag surrounded by a plastic bag. No compostable plastics of any kind are allowed.
Step four: every three or four days, bring your kitchen bucket (up to 20 pounds), along with any frozen collected items, to the Town Centre Recycling Depot. This is located in the parking lot next to RONA by the mall. Staff can assist you with your first drop-off. Look for the large green metal bin under the new shelter just outside the depot.
Step five: rinse out your kitchen bucket thoroughly at home and start all over again!
You may soon find visits to your garbage bin are greatly reduced.
After all, approximately 40 per cent of our so-called garbage is actually compostable.
