at HO! SY Sener A oT RT NCE Ee PGCE PA MCR. eRe OER RN EE SE SIOD SPS LN EAA TNE RIE QA IR TIGER EE SIT LORE tC Friday, October 19, 1990 - North Shore News - 13 EEE ET Te EIS a a Save money and save the planet I HOPE you all saw the five-part speciai that aired on PBS last week. Hosted by Meryl Streep, The Race To Save The Planet was simultaneously terrifying and comforting. ft is terrifying to know juste how badly we have mismanaged the environment and what the future may have in store should we con- Unue with cur undeniably evil ways. It was comforting to realize that most of our global communi- ty has become aware of the prob- tem and has actually begun doing something about it. So let’s talk garbage. This arti- cle addresses some concerns with compostable waste and my hope is that it will teach by example. At first 1 worried that this article was just another rehash of the same oid obvious benefits of com- posting; then I realized that I was practising what | preached, recycl- ing. Last year’s bits and pieces left over from the garden or the kitchen are needed to make wel- come, rich conipost, good for any area of the garden. Its usefulness overrides the fact that it may be zomposed of recycled waste mate- rials; 1 hope the bits and pieces found in this article can do half as much, Geoff Tobiasson OVER THE GARDEN GATE Just in case | am still speaking to one of those rare unconverted wasters, let's examine the ques- tion, “‘Why compost?” If I can't sell you on the concept of fulfill- ing your responsibilities to the en- vironment, perhaps indulging in your greed will do the trick, I figure the compost generated by the average home to be valued at anywhere from $125 to $250 annually. This figure comes from the projected costs to purchase the soil amendments and nutrients you are so eager to throw away. Now add in the $40 that each and every one of us pays to treat OUR PRODUCTS COMEFROMOAK TREES OUR QUALITY GROWS ON-OUR CUSTOMERS. ¢ BEDROOM ‘BOOKCASES *OFFICE FURN. *CHOICE *LIVING ROOM) = eWALL UNITS = eDESKS OF *DINING ROOM *TV. CENTRES eFILE CABINETS STAINS *COFFEE TABLES eSTEREO UNITS *CHAIRS *CUSTOM BUILDING ALSO AVAILABLE * WAREHOUSE DIRECT SAVINGS You don’t have to be Superman to stop Earth from being destroyed; starting a compost will do this valuable commodity as ear- bage. It doesa’t take an accoun- tant or an efficiency expert to fig- ure out that it pays fo compost. ft can hear you whining already, “But 1 just can't stand the smet!"* or “‘l don't want to attract the fats (giant raccoon type or other- wise)’’ and ‘] just don’t have the room."* Do | also hear you bawl- ing over high) municipal taxes, smoke-filled autumn skies, and what OTHERS are failing to do about our declining environment? The good news is that corporate North America has come to view the environmental bandwagon as a quick ride to windfall profits. 1 say windfall because it appears that they got away with a very neat trick. First we pay them to create most of our problems and now we are about to pay to have them fixed. Well, at least it is a beginning. Take the case of RubberMaid. For years they have been making co FULL SE See RETAINING WALL SYSTEMS y — used railway ties # — landscape core ties | — 4x4, 4x6, 6x6 pressure treated ¥— concrete wallstone #— concrete vari-stone 3— split granite stones SERVING. those ‘handy’ little kitchen gadgets that invariably find their way to the dump within six months of purchase. Now they have come out with the ‘Green Cone.” For a measly $60 or $70 you can hide your gooey stuff away trom noses, rails, raccoons, and view, all in a well-designed. high- tech, petrochemical *‘waste regeneration unit.’’ Give me a break. | know we should move away from solutions as basic as the old pile in the back corner of the lot; but there are simpler, more cost- efficient solutions than these “Cone Heads.’’ Don't get me wrong — if you find this to be the only workable method of com- posting for you, go for it. If you would like to explore some alternatives, try a visit to one of the Lower Mainland’s Composting Demonstration Gardens. The District of West E NO Vancouver has set up a new facili- te oat $Sth and Argyle near Ambleside Landing. The Greater Vancouver Regional District is maintitining a large site at 4856 Still Creek Ave. in Burnaby. In it they have ser up 1S or more examples of good composting systems. Some of these are available as free sets of plans while others are sold as Kits. Either one of these locations will provide vou with all the in- formation you could ever want to know about how to turn the stuff we throw away into Black Gold. Look for the GVRD"'s pamphlet entitled Here's The Dirt: it con- tains the best how-to guide to composting. If you can’t get to either of these sites, try your local municipal office, library, or garden shop. Failing these you can write to the Greater Vancouver Regional District, 4330 Kingsway, Burnaby, B.C. V5H 4G8, Atten- tion: Recycling Department. Other help is available from Ci- ty Farmer (685-5832), or if you are looking for information re- garding recycling concerns on the North Shore, call the North Shore Recycling Program at 984-9730. Allen Lynch, coordinator, was appointed by all three of the North Shore’s municipal govern- ments. Boy, things must be bad if these folks are finally trying to cooperate with each other.