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Red Deers compost plan gets personal

The City of Red Deer’s Composting at Home program is getting personal with the launch of its second phase.

The City of Red Deer’s Composting at Home program is getting personal with the launch of its second phase.

The new Compost & Keep up with the Joneses (and the Lunneys, the Kenworthys and the Latunskis) campaign is a series of social media posts, ads and posters showcasing locals who compost.

Its goal is to thank the latest group of program participants and encourage other community members to join in.

“These are photos of real-life participants in our Composting at Home program. These are people who signed up on their own and enjoy it.

“This is a way we can spread the word that regular Red Deer families compost,” said Lauren Maris, an environmental program specialist with the city.

“Many families think they’re too busy to stir a compost bin or throw scraps in their kitchen catchers, but if these everyday families can find the time, anyone can. ... We want Red Deerians to realize that backyard composting is a normal, easy and desirable thing to do for our community and our environment.”

The posters will be up in recreational facilities and other high-traffic areas, Maris said.

There will also be Facebook posts from the city recognizing composting families and individuals.

The initiative kicked off in March 2012 and trained 253 households. About 70 per cent of those homes continued to actively compost one year later, diverting approximately 20 tonnes of organic waste from the landfill.

The training program gives each household a compost bin, tools and how-to workshops, as well as learning resources, and access to support and expertise to help participants follow through with the project.

A household can reduce its waste by one-third thanks to composting.

The city had 200 spots open in the program last March. All spots were filled within 55 hours.

The third year of the program, ready to launch in March 2014, will see another 200 spots open for those interested in recycling organic waste and making their own fertilizer for healthy yards.

If you’re living in an apartment without a backyard, Maris said there is still the option of composting with a worm bin (vermiculture) or bokashi bucket (fermented organic matter through microbes).

For more information, visit www.reddeer.ca.

rfrancoeur@www.reddeeradvocate.com