NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

Centre displaying compost styles

ON THE compost front, there’s good news and bad news.

And then some more good news.

Good News #1: A telephone
survey of readers undertaken by
the North Shore News indicates
that over half of you are com-
posting your yard and kitchen
wastes. 50.9%, to be exact.

The most avid composters ap-
pear to reside in the areas of
Dundarave, Ambleside, the
Highlands, Central Lonsdale,
Horseshoe Bay and Lynn Valley.
The only neighborhoods in West
Vancouver that don’t have a ma-
jority of residents composting, in
fact, appear to be in the British
Properties.

Overall, however, a 50% com-
posting rate seems like a pretty re-
spectable start.

But here’s the bad news: of the

survey respondents who said they
didn’t compost their waste, only
10.8% said they were planning to
buy a composter in the next year;
76.9% said they weren't planning
to buy one, and 12.9% said they
didn’t know.
. Many of the ‘‘no’’ respondents,
I assume, live in apartments or
other dwellings that might make
composting more difficult. But |
hope the rest of you reconsider —
by composting, you can reduce
your garbage by up to one-third.

Kitchen wastes are an especially
noticeable component in your
household trash once you’ve
sorted out Blue Box recyclables
such as glass, metals, milk jugs
and newspapers.

So here’s Good News #2: all
North Shore residents can learn
more about composting at a Lynn
Canyon Ecology Centre display of
all the composters being offered
as part of the North Shore’s
Backyard Composting Pilot Pro-
ject.

From now up to and including
May 20, the five different styles of
composting units available will be
set up in the centre.

Located right at the entrance to
Lynn Canyon Park, the ecology
centre is open seven days a week,
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and has
lots of information and displays
that will keep the whole family
happy while the grown-ups look at
composters.

North Shore residents who
signed on with the pilot project
before the April 30 deadline will
have their composter delivered
and installed as part of the pro-
ject.

People who aren't on the list,
however, still have their chance to
buy a composter at lower-than-
retail rates. When visiting the
compost display, they can fill in
an order form and leave it, along
with their cheque, at the ecology
centre.

Peggy
Trendell-Whittaker

ECOINFO

And while the pilot project or-
ganizers still consider them valued
customers and applaud them for
their environmental initiative,
these tardy purchasers will have to
pick up their own compost unit
from the North Vancouver
District works yard on the
weekend of May 25 to 26.

Certain of the composters,
especially the EarthMaker, are
easily transportable; others would
require a van or a pick-up.

For move information about the
composting pilot project, call
98-GREEN (984-7336), 9 a.m. to
5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

ene
The most-asked question at the

FURTHER RED
SUNNY CHOI

e HEIDEMANN ° SON MORE

PARK ROYAL SOUTH (FORMER E.A. TEE

North Shore Recycling Program
display that was erected at North
Vancouver City Hall for Local
Government Awareness Week
was, not surprisingly, about
plastics recycling.

People wanted to know why
plastics other than milk jugs and
pop bottles aren’t accepted in our
North Shore blue boxes.

Unfortunately, markets for the
over 200 varieties of plastics in ex-
istence simply aren’t out there.
Even if they were, sorting the
various grades of plastics would
be incredibly expensive.

Communities that accept a wide
variety of plastics are currently
storing them in the hope that
markets develop.

Money also plays a factor when
it comes to shipping plastics to a
buyer; we, the vendor, would be
paid by the tonne of plastic. Rut
because plastic is so light, a great
bulk of it doesn’t add up to a
high tonnage, so shipping costs
end up being very high in relation
to revenue.

There are stable markets for the
milk jugs and pop bottles accepted
in the blue box. Remember, how-
ever, that recycling these plastics
is not a ‘‘closed-loop’’ process;
these materials are not turned
back into Ucverage containers, so
more virgin resources must be us-
ed to repiace the originals.

Rethink, reduce and reuse as
much as possible!

Send your environmental com-
ments and queries to Ecolnfo,
North Shore News, 1139 Lonsdale
Ave., North Vancouver, V7M
2H4.

ELSPETH HAYTER, coordinator of
Composting Pilot Project, sits surrounded by the five com-
posters offered to local residents as part of the municipal pro-
ject. The composters will be on display at the Lynn Canyon
Ecology Centre through May 20, See Ecoinfo for more details.

An enriched BILINGUAL PRE-SCHOOL offering 4 & 5 day pro-
grams for children 3-5 years old. Our school is conveniently

OPEN HOUSE AT
195 East Windsor Road, N. Van.

UCTIONS 50%-80% OFF

Phas

Friday, May 3, 1991 ~ North Shcre News — 19

the North Shore Backyard

Le Petit Montessori Academy

NEW LOCATION FOR SEPT. 91
N. Van. YMCA - 440 Hendry

THE CORPORATION OF THE
CITY OF NORTH VANCOUVER

NOTICE
TREE SPRAYING

The Maple Trees on Lonsdale and West
Esplanade will be sprayed in the early
hours of SUNDAY, MAY 5, 1991 —
WEATHER PERMITTING. The spray be-
ing used is “FIXED COPPER” to reduce
the consequences of the disease

“ANTHRACNOSE”.

We apologize for any inconvenience this
spraying may cause, but would ap-
preciate your cooperation in obeying the
“NO PARKING” signs.

GC. Gale, PEng.
City Engineer

STEILMANN
LOCATION)

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