Speech Draft

The Pros and Cons of Composting

Have you ever noticed our new organics cart and why it’s there?  It’s because of something new called composting. Composting isn't really new per say but I don’t think any of you have ever really thought about it. Composting is a great way of recycling organic matter and it turns all our food scraps into soil; although it does have its pros and cons.

There are lots of advantages of composting. It diverts organic material away from landfills because landfills are starting to overflow and also as yard waste decomposes in landfills it can generate methane gas which could explode if heated. There are also economic benefits. By composting you are saving money by not buying as many trash bags and it reduces the costs for transporting waste to landfills. If you’re composting at home it can also enrich your soil so that you don’t need to buy any fertilizer.

Although good things do come with disadvantages. For example it takes a lot of work and time to maintain the right temperature and wait for it to slowly decompose and there’s also a high cost to shred the materials so it decomposes properly in a community compost site. The biggest problem would probably be the odour that comes from composting; it can attract cats, mice and raccoons. It could also attract lots of insects like flies, ants and sometimes even termites. These problems can quickly be solved though by not putting in meat,dairy or oil products to avoid odour or pests.

Lots of communities are now starting to compost. Surrey, Burnaby and Vancouver are all encouraging people to compost. In Surrey we now have the green bins where we put all our food scraps and they later get transported to the Richmond Fraser soil and fibre which is a composting facility that takes all our food scraps and turns it into soil or mulch for selling.

Many people haven’t really thought of composting but as the landfills overflow and more pollutants are being spread into the air the best we can do for our trash is compost. Sure, there are a lot of disadvantages, but if you can overlook them you’ll realize that it’s a good idea. It’s great that the community started composting and I hope that we will continue.