Need a little something extra for the flower beds? Or maybe for the vegetable patch?
Waterloo Region has literally tonnes of the good stuff waiting for pick-up.
Gardeners eager to scoop up some quality fertilizing material will be able to do just that May 9 at the spring compost giveaway.
“I am looking forward to a fairly large attendance,” said Clark Reichert, the region’s compost coordinator.
The material is a rich organic soil amendment produced from leaves and yard waste collected at curbsides. It’s then ground down and composted for a period of seven to eight months, screened of larger debris and made available to the public.
“It’s got very good NPK values – nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus – and the organic matter itself, is highly valuable: it increases the colour of vegetation as well as the bounty,” said Reichert.
Residents who visit either the Waterloo or Cambridge landfill next Saturday can take up to five bushels (each one roughly the size of a blue box) of compost per visit while quantities last, and are asked to bring their own shovels and containers. On its bi-annual give-away days (spring and fall), the region typically sees more than a thousand vehicles arrive on site.
Waterloo Region composts some 20,000 tonnes of raw material and from that produces 7,000 to 8,000 tonnes of finished compost.
“We never run out,” said Reichert.
The giveaway runs from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine. Both landfill sites will be collecting food for the Food Bank of Waterloo Region and the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank. Residents are invited to contribute non-perishable food items or cash donations.
