Desert Gardens

» Rosemary Drisdelle - Recycling Yard Waste and Other Organics

After reading your comments on yard waste, I thought you might be interested in our recycling program here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We have blue bags for recyclables like cans, glass bottles, and plastics; green bins for organic waste like cereal boxes, paper napkins, and food waste (no organics allowed in the green garbage bags for the landfill); depots for returning beverage containers (for which we pay a 10 cent deposit and get 5 cents back); a paper and cardboard recycling program; and composters for yard waste and vegetable scraps. The municipality runs a composting facility with the green bin contents and sells us back the finished compost for lawns and gardens in the spring. The end result for our family of 2-5 (depending on which wandering children are at home) is just one or two full garbage bags for the landfill each month.

Rosemary Drisdelle
birds.suite101.com

» Robert Dailey - Recycling Yard Waste and Other Organics

That's a great program, Rosemary. I also like the return compost. If every municipality would adopt those problems, the better things would be.
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» Robin Fowler - Recycling Yard Waste and Other Organics

That's a great program, and a great way to encourage everyone to conserve their waste.

We have been thinking of starting our own compost heap in our backyard. I am amazed at all of the the organic stuff we throw out, like fruit peels and such. Since we like to garden so much, it would be great to have all of that organic material to use for planting!