Composting in West Broadway

Transcription

1 Composting in West Broadway Report Prepared by: Bowen Smyth, Compost Coordinator Published: October 31 st, 2013

2 Table of Contents Composting in West Broadway: Goals & Achievements 3 Training & Education.. 5 Community Compost Sites 6 Apartment Composting 7 Vermicomposting 8 Recommendations. 9 Numerical Overview 10 Acknowledgements 11 Initiating our first apartment compost bins with a pail of kitchen scraps. 2

3 Composting in West Broadway: Goals & Achievements West Broadway s composting project is the culmination of many years of research, funding applications, and consultations. In the fall of 2009, staff at West Broadway Community organization brought community members together to envision the future of composting in the neighbourhood. At that time, West Broadway Community Organization was overseeing 20 compost bins at six sites with the help of a volunteer compost committee. They had also identified a number of apartments and organizations in the neighbourhood with an expressed interest in composting. Using the PATH (Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope) graphic tool as a framework for this planning process, the community identified seven goals that they wanted to realize within two years. The list below identifies five PATH goals that were accomplished in Secure infrastructure and equipment for composting. Eight new community compost bins built Two new community compost sites established Permanent leaf storage site plans in progress Built outdoor storage for wood at West Broadway Community Organization Purchased tools to enhance bin building and site maintenance (mitre saw, compost thermometer, extension cord, new drill, and sharpened hand saws) 2. Increase awareness about composting through social marketing, education, and signage. Full signage added to two community compost sites 11 workshops and one Master Composter course offered to community members Media coverage of composting workshops, events, and accomplishments aired on CBC, CKUW, and UMFM radio stations. 3. Establish West Broadway as an apartment composting pilot for Winnipeg. 37 apartment composting kits distributed 12 bins built at eight buildings Highest participation rate discovered to be at community compost sites located throughout West Broadway 4. Train five to ten Master Composters in West Broadway. 18 Master Composters trained in West Broadway Five Master Composters volunteering and/or working in West Broadway 5. Develop a compost-related business. Three bins built for service, with a request for two more bins in 2014 Research conducted and grants submitted for organic waste collection at neighbourhood businesses and organizations 3

4 Some goals identified in the PATH planning process were either wholly or partially unachievable, due to limited interest and/or resources: 1. Secure city support and money for composting in West Broadway (bins, tax incentives) City continues to take a hands-off approach with neighbourhood organizations and community garden/compost sites 2. One full-time staff to oversee and coordinate composting activities in the community Received funding for one part-time staff for 15 hours/week for 18 months Demand for maintenance of community compost sites continues to surpass the capacity of one part-time staff, in spite of strong volunteer commitment Some recommendations for future composting activities have been included at the end of this report. Creating employment by building fee-for-service bins from salvaged wood. 4

5 Training & Education A total of 136 participants including 4 youth attended the 11 free compost training events that we offered. Participants from outside the West Broadway neighbourhood were welcome to join these workshops when space and resources permitted. Workshops were promoted via posters, s, social media, and public radio. Our most successful training event was the Master Composter course, a 5-day course that certified 18 new Master Composters. Offered in conjunction with Green Action Centre, this event attracted 5 new volunteers who contributed over 50 volunteer hours to our program. Volunteers participated in collecting salvaged wood for compost bins, building wooden bins, assisting with workshops, and maintaining community compost sites. Since Green Action Centre offers a blitz of basic composting workshops every spring, we found that some of our workshops were poorly attended. As much as possible, we attempted to attract larger turnouts by offering new information, or incentives such as free compost and kitchen collectors. Date Event Participants June 13, 2012 Apartment Composting 13 August 1, 2012 Vermicomposting 8 October, 2012 Master Composter Course (facilitated by Green Action Centre) 18 September 15, 2012 Soil Food Web (offered off site at Harvest Moon Festival) 24 November 14, 2012 Winter Composting 3 December 12, 2012 Green Holidays 5 March 1, 2013 Feeding Your Soil (offered off-site at Growing Local Conference) 50+ May 11, 2013 Backyard Composting 0 June 11, 2013 Organic Lawn Care (facilitated by Manitoba EcoNetwork) 4 July 16, 2013 Community Composting cancelled August 13, 2013 Composting for Youth 2 September 24, 2013 Harvesting Compost Master Composter graduates. 5

6 Community Compost Sites Our community compost sites are by far the most successful aspect of the compost research project. With 28 bins at eight sites conveniently scattered throughout the neighbourhood, we can still barely keep up with the demand for these bins. West Broadway Community Organization provides support by offering training sessions to increase awareness and effective use of the bins, finding and coordinating volunteers, tracking volunteer hours, and responding to questions from the community. Our community compost sites could not succeed without the small but dedicated group of volunteers who maintain some of our larger sites. Bins need to be aerated, watered, and balanced with carbon materials at least once each week during the warm months in order to maximize compost production and minimize odours and pests. Due to our cold winters, organic waste remains frozen for roughly half the year, so most of our bins reach maximum capacity at this time and some sites need to be shut down. We received a phone call from one avid composter who intended to start scattering organic waste in nearby bushes and natural areas when their community compost site closed for the season. We were relieved to be able to redirect this person s organic waste to a larger site nearby. Although this may be an extreme case, our community compost sites remain actively used even in temperatures below -20C (see photo below). This speaks volumes to the dedication people put in, without recognition or reward, to contribute to waste reduction in our neighbourhood. Six of the nine bins at our busiest community compost site. 6

7 Apartment Composting Apartment composting sites worked in a similar way to the community compost sites: wooden compost bins were installed on the property of an existing apartment, offering apartment dwellers the option to compost in the same location where recycling and garbage were disposed of. In total, we were able to install 12 new bins at eight buildings. Our successful sites were ones in which we managed to secure both approval from property owners/managers to install compost bins, as well as staff or volunteers to manage the new bins. Unfortunately, these two requirements did not always come hand-in-hand, so we ended up with some underused apartment compost bins where we gained permission to build, and some disappointed apartment dwellers who were eager to manage bins for their building, but who were unable to secure permission from their landlord or property manager. Volunteers assisting with bin building at one of our apartment composting sites. 7

8 Vermicomposting Vermicomposting was another pilot component of this project, and unfortunately was not nearly as successful as we had hoped. We projected that over a two year period, 50 families would begin composting as a result of our efforts. Our projections were high because roughly 85% of West Broadway residents live in apartments or other shared, rented properties without access to land for backyard composting. Since Winnipeg does not yet have a city-wide organic waste collection program, we hoped that giving people access to vermicomposting resources would offer an alternative to tossing organic waste among this population. Unfortunately, uptake on vermicomposting workshops and resources was very low. We found that the majority of apartment dwellers interested in composting were already accessing our community compost sites, or were more interested in our apartment composting project that made outdoor wooden bins available on site. A large number of apartment dwellers in West Broadway live at or below the poverty line. With many of these individuals and families struggling to meet their basic needs for food, shelter, and health care, composting let alone vermicomposting was usually not a priority. Even for participants who had greater access to time, money, and other resources, vermicomposting proved to be a challenging skill with a low rate of success. For these reasons, we redirected time and resources from the vermicomposting project to existing projects that were proving to be more successful: apartment composting and community compost sites. Searching for worm eggs in vermicompost bins. 8

9 Recommendations Based on our research and on-the-ground experience with composting in West Broadway, a list of recommendations has been included for future composting projects, listed in order of priority. 1. Develop financial sustainability. Continue to submit funding applications for full-time, long-term Compost Coordinator Continue to research and secure funding to implement organic waste collection service for area businesses and restaurants Research the possibility of establishing a compost-based social enterprise Develop means to continue hiring people with barriers to employment for contract labour (bin building, site maintenance, etc.) 2. Invest in community compost sites. Focus on maintaining existing sites/bins before investing in new sites/bins Build long-term leaf storage site Add signage to remaining community compost sites Research and implement more accurate ways of tracking number of people composting and amount of organic waste diverted from landfill Redirect focus from apartment composting and vermicomposting to community compost sites 3. Increase awareness of composting and waste reduction. Promote West Broadway s waste reduction successes Continue offering workshops and opportunities for education, expanding topic content beyond basic composting Secure funding to offer additional Master Composter courses 4. Identify and expand human resource capacity. Develop a better system for recruiting and investing in volunteers, and for tracking volunteer hours Establish positive partnerships with public (municipal) and private (business) sectors to collaboratively set and achieve waste reduction targets One of our more idyllic apartment compost sites. 9

10 Numerical Overview People 500 estimated number of people composting in West Broadway > 500 volunteer hours contributed 136 workshop participants 47 compost volunteers Planet 33 estimated tonnes of compost harvested 37 apartment composting kits distributed 112 estimated tonnes of organic waste diverted from landfill 129 estimated tonnes of C02 emissions reduced through composting Profit $16,934 cost savings for community if compost produced was purchased at $5/30L bag $9,296 estimated savings from composting instead of landfilling ($83/tonne) $630 saved by building bins from salvaged wood rather than new wood Building plans for a double compost bin. Parsley growing in compost in November. 10

11 Acknowledgments West Broadway Community Organization s community composting program was made possible by the generous support of funders who gave us the financial means to accomplish our goals: project partners who worked with us in some capacity, providing resources, training, promotion, inspiration, and support: Blue Butterfly Dreams Brickworks (Toronto) Broadway Neighbourhood Centre CBC Radio CKUW Daniel McIntyre/St. Matthews Community Association Doug Weatherbee, Soil Doctor (Mexico) Ernst & Young LLP Good Food Club Government of MB - Urban Green Team Green Action Centre Greenheart Housing Coop Harvest Moon Society Hintsa House Klinic Community Health Centre Manitoba Hydro Master Composters Nature s Perfect Plant Food Nioex Systems (Brandon) ORBIS (Toronto) Resource Assistance for Youth (RAY) Spence Neighbourhood Association Take Pride Winnipeg - Urban Green Wave The Forks The Stop (Toronto) Westminster Housing Co-op Westminster Housing Society UMFM University of Winnipeg Urban Eatin and all of our community volunteers. Thank you! 11