Goldstream Gazette Feature on Community Composting
October 21, 2009
By Charla Huber – Goldstream News Gazette
West Shore residents are now able to swap table scraps for soil.
Community Composting has extended its service to all five West Shore communities. More than 60 West Shore households have already signed up for the service that picks up organic kitchen and yard waste and drops off 20-litre bags of soil.
“It’s convenient, everyone is used to having their garbage picked up. It’s also instant gratification. They get a bag of soil instantly,” said Matthew Mepham, who co-owns Community Composting with Kyle Goulet. “Langford is known to be quite green. With the development, more houses are being built out there than (Victoria).”
Customers receive a container with wheels for their home. Once a month the material is picked up by a truck similar to a garbage truck.
Acceptable items include fruit and veggie scraps, coffee grounds and filters and yard trimmings. They don’t accept items such as meat, bones, dairy products and pet waste.
The compost fodder is delivered to Victoria Landscape-Gravel Mart Ltd. in Victoria, and added to a large pile of yard waste also collected by the City of Victoria, landscaping companies and individuals.
“Basically the waste is left in piles and turned,” Mepham said.
To help the process, bark, manure and leaf mulch are all added to the mix. A large 40-foot machine, as tall as a house, grinds up the pile, sometimes adding a little extra water.
The outcome resembles soil, but the pile sits for about five months before it is ready to be delivered back to customers.
“Composting definitely reduces the amount of household garbage,” Mepham said. “Some of our customers have cut their garbage in half.”
Single family dwellings, condos, townhouses, coffee shops and schools are using the composting service.
The company has been in operation in Victoria since 2003 and collects compost from more than 1,200 households in Greater Victoria.
The idea for Community Composting came to Mepham when he was working as a landscaper.
“A lot of people had a lot of compost and didn’t know what to do with it.”
The service costs about $20 per month. For more information, see communitycomposting.ca.
