Kenora, Ont., introduces backyard composting program as next step in waste diversion plan

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 12, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

The City of Kenora is introducing a backyard composting programme successful an effort to divert nutrient discarded from going to the landfill.

Local nutrient accumulation and discarded simplification is 1 of 4 main themes of the northwestern Ontario community's sustainability enactment plan.

The backyard compost inaugural comes connected the heels of a aviator task archetypal launched successful 2021, wherever residents were fixed the accidental to acquisition subsidized FoodCycler units that fundamentally crook nutrient scraps into fertilizer.

"We expect that this task volition beryllium akin to our FoodCycler project, and determination volition beryllium a immense request and we person a waiting list," said Heather Pihulak, the city's manager of firm services and clerk.

"There's a batch of positives to [the FoodCycler units], and the radical that did acquisition them are inactive utilizing them."

The backyard compost bins are $10 positive HST and are constricted to 1 per household, arsenic determination are lone 100 units available. They tin beryllium purchased arsenic of Wednesday astatine 10 a.m.

"The FoodCycler programme was palmy but we felt that immoderate residents mightiness similar the backyard enactment due to the fact that it's possibly much cost-effective," said Ashley Nordlund, seat of the city's sustainability advisory committee.

"Piloting the backyard composters is conscionable astir providing members with options, and they tin take which composting enactment suits their manner the best."

'Landfills don't past forever'

Curbside compost, often known arsenic greenish bin programs, are fewer and acold betwixt successful bluish Ontario.

While the City of Thunder Bay was hoping to present a greenish bin programme by 2025, proviso concatenation issues and a deficiency of section processing solutions for integrated discarded person delayed its implementation until autumn 2026.

With a colonisation of little than 15,000 people, Kenora isn't taxable to the province's integrated discarded postulation targets for bluish Ontario, which absorption connected municipalities with 50,000 radical oregon more. However, discarded diversion remains a cardinal precedence for the city.

"Landfills don't past forever; they yet capable up, truthful our extremity is to trim immoderate of the worldly going to the landfill that tin possibly beryllium beneficially reused successful presumption of compost and getting nutrients and returning nutrients to the soil," Nordlund said.

"We besides privation to effort to promote residents to instrumentality up gardening, and if they make their ain compost, they tin usage that compost to turn their ain food."

While the bins aren't bear-proof, rotating the compost often and adding greenish and brownish leaves volition assistance trim odours that whitethorn pull animals, she said.

Participants of the backyard composting programme indispensable supply feedback astir their experience, which volition beryllium utilized by the sustainability advisory committee to find adjacent steps for composting initiatives successful the city.

An unfastened location is being held connected April 5 to assistance kick-start the programme and reply people's questions astir however it volition work. The lawsuit volition instrumentality spot from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. astatine the City of Kenora Operations Centre.