Tips to Reduce your Garbage
Home Composting
Taking care of organic waste at home is the most cost effective means available because it saves money on collection, transportation and processing. The benefit to the environment is considerable as residents create a resource by returning organic material to the soil, which improves the health of plants in yards and gardens and saves water. Home composting also lets you save money because you have to buy less fertilizer and compost.
Backyard Composting
Purchase a backyard composter at half price from the City. Backyard composters can be obtained at the Vancouver South Transfer Station at 377 West Kent Avenue North upon proof of residency in Vancouver (e.g. drivers license). Cost to the resident for these composters is $25.00 including taxes. The composters come with an instruction manual. There is a limit of 3 composters per household. If you need more than 3 composters, please call 604.871.6058 or email recycle@vancouver.ca.
For a slideshow demonstration of backyard composting check out 
City Farmer's Step-by-Step Photo Guide to BackYard Composting.
Composting information and instructions in Cantonese
Composting information and instructions in Mandarin
Composting information and instructions in Punjabi
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Worm Composting (for Apartments)
Do
you want to compost, but live in an apartment and don't have a backyard?
Worm Composting allows you to turn your uncooked vegetable and fruit
scraps, coffee grounds and filters, egg shells, etcetera into a nutrient-rich
soil conditioner for your plants. The City has a limited number of Worm
Composters available at the low price of $25. The units come complete
with the bin, lid and tray, worms, bedding and instructions, and a mandatory
one hour workshop at the Compost Demonstration Garden. To register for
the workshops or to get more information, call
the Compost Hotline at 604.736.2250. For a slideshow demonstration of worm composting check out City Farmer's Photo Guide to Worm Composting.
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Grasscycling
Mow higher, mow more often and leave the clippings on the lawn. Raise your mower height to 3 inches. This allows the grass to develop deeper roots and crowds out weeds. Leaving the clippings makes lawns heathier and does not cause thatch. Try to mow late in the day so the clippings settle overnight. Use a sharp mower blade and mow when the grass is dry.
Grass clippings can also be collected and spread on your weeded flowers and vegetables. Clippings make a natural mulch, preventing moisture loss, adding important nutrients and providing natural weed control.
When you purchase your next lawnmower, BE PUSHY and consider a push mower as the best environmental option. Push mowers are excellent for grasscycling (mulching) and they are portable, quiet, conserve power, reduce air pollution, and provide great exercise. As a second option, consider an electric mulching mower. Although not required to grasscycle, mulching mowers have been designed to cut grass into finer grass clippings that spread easily, break down into nutrients faster, and are not tracked into the house as easily.
Add a little grass to your composter. Alternate layers of green and brown materials 2 to 4 inches deep. Layer one part grass clippings and one part dead leaves, straw or dry newspaper strips.
And, you can consider turning some of your lawn into a food garden. Every Lawn A Graden's objective is to help individuals increase their capacity for gardening such that everyone can reach the stage of growing some of their own food supply.
For more information about natural yard care, please visit Grow Natural or call the Regional Compost Hotlilne at 604.736.2250 about questions you may have, request for a natural yard care booklet, or book a workshop.
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Compost Hotline and Garden
Do you have questions about yard trimmings, composting or grasscycling? Call the Regional Compost Hotline at 604.736.2250 or visit the Compost Demonstration Garden at 2150 Maple Street and talk to the friendly staff.
The Garden is open:
- April to November, Wednesday to Saturday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
- December to March, Fridays and Saturdays from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
The Regional Hotline and Vancouver's Garden are run for the Region and City by City Farmer, a non-profit organization dedicated to Urban Agriculture. Click on the link below to access their comprehensive web page about composting and water-wise gardening.
Urban Agriculture Notes by City Farmer - www.cityfarmer.org (Note: Link will open into a new window.)
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Return Your Beverage Containers
In
BC, all ready-to-drink beverage containers except milk, milk substitutes
and meal replacements have a deposit on them. You can return these beverage
containers to your retailer or a depot to get your deposit back. For more
information, call the BC Recycling Hotline at 604.732.9253 or click on
the link to their web page below.
Recycling Council of British Columbia - www.rcbc.bc.ca (Note: Link will open into a new window.)
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