How Composting Can Make Your BBQ Less Messy and Your Kitchen Less Stinky
For most New Brunswickers, summer means barbecues, parties, cold beer, gardening and finally unwinding for some well-deserved quality time with family and friends.
It can also mean a lot of garbage and waste.
The good news is that there are plenty of ways to make sure your waste doesn’t take a toll on the environment, one of the best ones being composting,
Though many people compost throughout the year, some may find doing it in the summertime challenging. One reason being that bugs and other critters thrive this time of year. But Janine van Winssen, public education coordinator for the Fundy Regional Service Commission says there’s a solution to this, and it’s right in your own backyard.
“In the summer we tend to have lots of yard waste and I always think of that as my friend to keep flies and critters away. When I add my kitchen waste to my compost cart I always make sure there is a layer of yard waste above and below it,” says van Winssen. “That will absorb any moisture which keeps the smells down and critters away, and keeps the flies away from the food waste so you don’t get maggots.”
Have a spotless yard? That’s ok. Those old newspapers you have laying around will work too.
“You can crumble some newspaper around your compost bag to absorb moisture,” says van Winssen.
Another summer composting challenge people face is the odour. Waste on its own doesn’t smell great, but combine that with the hot summer heat, it could be enough to ruin that big backyard barbeque you’ve been planning.
“If you know you will have ‘fragrant’ compost, consider keeping it in a compostable bag in your freezer until collection day. Lots of people have a box in their deep freezers just for this,” says van Winssen.
“After a recent lobster fest at our house, I tried a little test by putting the bag of shells sandwiched between lots of yard waste and our neighbourhood racoons never touched them. If you’ve ever had them in your garbage, you know how much they can smell after a few days.”
If you’re new to composting, The Fundy Regional Service Commission offers all the information you need to get started on their website, including ordering a kitchen bin and a large compost cart for your property. Van Winssen says you just need to learn what you can and can’t compost. The good news is, a lot of stuff can!
“There are lots of things that can go in your compost, in fact, 40 per cent of your waste can be composted,’ says van Winssen. “All food and yard waste can be composted and that includes vegetable peelings, meat bones, eggshells, garden clippings, twigs and leaves.”
This makes cleaning up after those summer get-togethers much easier, even for really large community events.
“The Fundy Regional Service Commission had a Green Waste sorting station at the recent Saint John RibFest and 97 per cent of the waste was compostable,” says van Winssen.
“Think of how many thousands of people were at that event and there was almost no waste. All those meat bones, paper containers and lots of napkins all went into the compost. If they can compost on that scale, you can do it at your backyard BBQ.”
You can also compost a lot of … interesting things too. Things like cat and dog fur, human hair, kitty litter (just wrap it in a compostable or paper bag first), muffin liners, pizza boxes and chewing gum.
When it comes to what can’t be composted, van Winssen says coffee cups and plastic bags are the big ones to remember.
“One thing we get a lot of in the compost is coffee cups, and since they have a plastic liner, they don’t break down in the compost. Coffee cups should go in the garbage,” she says.
“We also get a lot of plastic bags, but you want to use a compostable bag to line your kitchen bin. Just look for the compostable symbol on the side of the box of bags.”
If you’re ever unsure of what can and can’t be composted, Fundy Regional Service Commission makes it easy on the What Goes Where section of their website.
For the Commission, composting is a local solution for local waste.
“We eat the food here and garden here, then the food and yard waste is processed and turned into soil here and then we can buy it and use it on our gardens,” says van Winssen “All that waste doesn’t fill up the landfill and our gardens and lawns benefit from a soil filled with nutrients.”
But if that doesn’t compel you to give composting a try, perhaps stink-free kitchen will.
“Another benefit I love about composting is that I can get any of the stinky stuff out of my kitchen fast. The kitchen compost bin is so much smaller than my garbage can, so I empty it more frequently and the smelly things like chicken bones, or lobster shells or cantaloupe rinds go outside quick to the large compost cart,” says van Winssen.
“And that mouldy spaghetti sauce that your spouse forgot at the back of the fridge? Just empty it out in the compost, tie up the bag and take it outside. Smells are gone!”
For more information on composting go to FundyRecycles.com.