Volunteers wanted for countertop composter pilot project

By Craig Westcott / June 16, 2023

Now that the composting bin program is established, the Town of CBS is ready to press forward with another innovation when it comes to turning food waste into something useful, or at least something less costly when the municipal garbage trucks haul their loads to the Robin Hood Bay Landfill.

Councillor-at-large Paul Connors said the Town is preparing a pilot program to test the use of small food cycling apparatuses that can be used inside the home.

“Building on the success of our backyard composter tumbler project, where we had preorders for 180 tumblers over the period that we advertised it, we are now exploring interest in another pilot project with the Food Cycle Science Corporation,” Connors said Tuesday. “So what we’re doing now is giving residents the opportunity to purchase a unit that you can place right on top of your counter and this will take organic food waste, which probably makes up 30 per cent of your food that is thrown in the garbage and is considered wet garbage and is what costs us the money in our waste disposal and garbage collection, and it turns it into soil within a short period of time which you can use in your gardening, or houseplants and stuff like that. Ultimately it reduces the amount of organic waste going to our landfills.”

Already over 50 residents have expressed interest in participating in the program, said Connors. 

“So, if anyone is interested, please go on the Town’s website and have a look and put your name down to get a unit to compost organic material,” he advised.

Mayor Darrin Bent expressed pleasure at the progress Town’s composting efforts have enjoyed.

“I’ve been on council for probably eight years, and I remember the first year we had trouble getting ready of 40 composters,” Bent said. “And this year we had calls for what, 180 composters? We had to do two call outs (to the suppliers) because we needed to get more composters. Anything we can do to reduce the weight of the garbage is the big thing, because that’s how we pay… That wet food stuff is really what does it.”

Deputy Mayor Andrea Goose also welcomed the pilot project.

“Backyard composting is not for everybody,” she admitted. “Some people don’t know how to do it, they don’t want to learn about it, or they’re afraid to do it. But this is a little unit that literally sits on your counter, and you can throw your daily waste in it. You can turn it on when you go to bed and in the morning it’s all broken down into a dry, crumbly organic material. And if you’re not a gardener, you can throw it in your garbage container, but it’s almost weightless. It’s really something.”

Goose added the Town expects to get funding from other levels of government which it will use to subsidize the cost of the machines for those participating in the program. “I think we’re going to have great uptake on it,” she wagered.

“Hopefully we’ll get more (people participating),” said Connors. “But it’s already a success in my opinion.”