Composting for Condo Dwellers: Food Scraps Drop Spot at the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market

Food Scraps Drop Spot at Mount Pleasant Farmers Market

Did you know that 40% of garbage sent to Vancouver's landfill is organic waste?* Another fun but sad fact: when buried in a landfill, your food scraps or gardening clippings DO NOT just break down into soil because the organisms that do that need oxygen to survive. Instead, an anaerobic reaction takes place, which, instead of making compost--a great fertilizer--it makes carbon dioxide & worse, methane, a flammable greenhouse gas. Composting is a great way to reduce the amount of stuff your household sends to the landfill & thus your environmental footprint.

But--big but--if you don't have a yard, how can you compost? If you've got a balcony,  you can get a small, self-contained worm composting system. The city has a great program where you can get a subsidized setup for just $25 & including a 'wormshop' to learn how to do it. If you're interested, visit the City of Vancouver worm composting bin page for more information.

Okay, that's great, but maybe you don't have a balcony or can't imagine taking care of worms? You can still compost! Starting this June, you can drop off food scraps at the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market, as well as other locations around the city. Food Scraps Drop Spot is a not-for-profit community based food scrap diversion program, created to help apartment & condo residents divert their food scraps in Vancouver, BC.

Keep your food scraps out of the landfill!

Here's what you can bring to the Food Scraps Drop Spot:

• fruit & vegetables
• meat, bones & dairy
• breads & pastries
• cooked food scraps
• soiled paper towels
• coffee grounds & tea bags

The Drop Spot does not accept:

• plastic bags (unless it is certified compostable)
• plastics or styrofoam
• oils or grease
• coffee cups
• diapers or wipes
• animal waste or cat litter

To collect your compost, you don't need anything fancy, though the shiny steel buckets Lee Valley sells for this purpose are sure pretty. A 4L ice cream bucket or two is sufficient to hold your veggie peels, plate scrapings & so on. (Yes, I'm giving you an excuse to eat 4-8L of ice cream: it's for the  good of the environment!) If you're worried about how those food scraps will smell by day six in your kitchen, here's a tip: pop it in the freezer when you're not loading apple cores or leftovers into it. No smell, no fruit flies & it's out of sight. You can also use newspaper or paper bags to line the container & make disposal even easier.

Dropping off at the Food Scraps Drop Spot is free, though donations are always appreciated & if you'd like to help out, volunteer on the Drop Spot Squad, with outreach, or data entry. 

*I'm hopeful that the amount diverted from landfills is a bit higher now, the 40% stat is from 2011, the most recent I could find.

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Mount Pleasant Farmers Market Returns!

Just in case you haven't heard yet...

I was very pleased to receive a letter in the mail (actual snail mail--imagine that) with the news that the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market will be returning this summer!

Due to overwhelmingly positive feedback (thank you if you wrote a letter or email in support!), the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market will be returning to 2300 Guelph (at Mount Pleasant Elementary) on Sundays June 15 - October 12, 10am-2pm. There will also be live music & the Food Scraps Drop Spot.

To kick off the market, there's going to be a Community Bunting Project on Opening Day, June 15. All vendors, shoppers, & neighbours are invited to design a triangle that will be attached to a string of bunting to decorate the farmers market. Stay tuned for more details & workshop announcements.

Until June 15, you can get your Farmers Market fix at the Winter Farmers Market - Saturdays, 10-2 until April 26 at Nat Bailey Stadium (30th & Ontario), or Yaletown Farmers Market starting May 1, or Trout Lake starting May 10. All the markets & dates are here on the EatLocal.org website.

Hope you're having a lovely Easter weekend!

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Help Your Multi-Family Building Go Green with Trash Talk

I recently got an email from one of TrashTalk's sponsors, the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House about the call for a second round of applicants. Here are the details:

Trashtalk is a pilot project working with recycling champions in apartments, condos and co-ops to establish food scraps recycling and improve current recycling programs in Vancouver multi-family residences.

With the 2015 Metro Van ban on organics looming and Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan targeting new food scraps recycling as a key path to its Zero Waste goals, now is the time to sign up for Trashtalk.

Trashtalk is currently working with co-ops, condos and apartments in the West End  and Mount Pleasant but welcomes applications from anywhere in Vancouver.

There are lots of good reasons to participate including free assistance to plan and implement a food scraps recycling program and modest financial support to engage your neighbours. Check out our resource:  Six Reasons to Participate in Trashtalk



With the project first phase in full swing, Trashtalk welcomes more applications for its second phase intake. Deadline for more applications is September 16, 2013

For more info, Sign Up or send us an email: trashtalk@telus.net

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#VancityMemberDay at The #PNE + a #Giveaway

Photography by Winston Wong

It's August in Vancouver, which means it's almost time for one of our annual family traditions: going to the PNE for Vancity Member Day! The tradition started in 2010, just after Sprout was born & we've been every year since. We could go on any of the days that The Fair is open, but Vancity Member Day is special--here's why:

Vancity Member Day

Each year, during The Fair, a special day is designated as Vancity Member Day. This year it's on Thursday August 29, 2013. Members & a guest can celebrate being a part of Vancity & enjoy discounted admission to The Fair: just $5 each (a savings of $15 each). (Psst: RSVP & tell your friends on Facebook here on the Vancity Member Day Event Page)

A Greener Day at The Fair

Vancity is always looking for ways to make our region greener & supporting local initiatives that do just that. This year, Vancity will “Cowpower” all the electricity consumed at The Fair on Vancity day, i.e. by supporting Cowpower our dollars go to enabling local farmers to install biodigesters on their farms to process cow manure to make electricity (& it also make a digestate that is a high nutrient natural soil amendment that farmers can spread on their fields).

BYOB--Bring your own water bottle!

A drinking-water station will also be made available on Member Day, to encourage visitors to use re-usable water bottles for the day. The water station will be provided by Metro Vancouver.

Eco Alley

Eco Alley is an engaging activation area in a green zone area of The Fair that will showcase the Fair’s current green initiatives with a strong focus on recycling & composting, engaging visitors in generating new ideas &  proposing additional ways the PNE can “go green.”

The area, highlighted by a 20x20 activity tent & a 10x10 composting tent, will feature a number of activities centered around recycling, composting & transportation for attendees to participate in:

• Eco-enga Enviro Trivia Game – We’ve designed a life-sized Jenga game specifically for PNE 2013. The traditional Jenga game is given a “green twist,” as each block offers attendees a chance to answer enviro trivia for a slew of fun prizes.
• Feature Ideas Wall – We want to engage attendees & solicit their feedback on how the PNE can further green their operations, so we’ve built a dry-erase ideas wall that will elicit attendees to write their ideas around water, waste & energy.
• Commuter Survey – we’ll have a survey wall asking attendees to pinpoint where they commuted from & their method of transportation. Along with the survey, we’ll be offering tips on how they can further green their commute.
• Onsite Commercial Scale-Composting Demonstration - A commercial composter will process food scraps from PNE food vendors & will be adjacent to small food gardens (planted by students from local schools) sharing the message of “Fork-to-farm” & how food scraps can be digested into nutrients to help our soil grow food. The composter will be provided by Recycling Alternative, a proud Vancity community partner who provides eco-solutions to communities around the Lower Mainland.
• “Silver Dragon” In-home composter Display – A composter designed for residential use called, “The Silver Dragon,” will also be on display for visitors to learn more about how they can add composting to their lifestyle.
• Make Good Money Photo – Vancity has also prepared a social media component, where visitors are encouraged to share their ideas on how to build a healthy community, snap a photo with their idea written on one of our exclusive social media blocks & share the photo with their social media networks.
• By the entrance of the PNE Main gates, Vancity is also providing a free valet bike service for PNE visitors, providing secure bicycle storage & a chance to win a green prize pack for users of the valet.

Win this stuff & have some clean, green fun!

I did promise a giveaway too, didn't I? :) Here are the details. Vancity will send one lucky winner a gift pack (worth over $200) which includes:

• A pair of Fair gate & ride passes ($108 value)
• A green cleaning kit – with products from Seventh Generation & other eco-friendly brands ($50 value)
• A stainless steel countertop green bin ($50 value)

Enter to win in the Rafflecopter widget below. You can increase your chances by doing as many of the options as possible: tweeting about the contest (you can do this daily if you want more chances to win!), following me or Vancity on Twitter, following me or Vancity on Facebook & leaving a comment about your favourite part of the PNE. Please don't forget to do the action & click 'I did it' on Rafflecopter so your entry is valid. If you're not sure, email me! lisa.corriveauATgmail.com :)

I'll choose a winner in a week (well, the random number generator will, actually), just after midnight on Wednesday, August 21. I'll post the winner's name on the widget & notify them by email. If you've won, you'll have 48 hours to respond to my email or I'll ask Mr. Rafflecopter to choose another winner... :) Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: Vancity will be providing the prize to the winner, but this is not a sponsored post.

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