Let Nature Recycle your Leaves
In our family we often joke that nature has bedhead at this time of year. She’s just waking up from a long, long sleep and needs a little raking and sweeping to get the sleep out of her eyes. If you’re like me, you can’t wait to transform your yard from bedhead to a fresh, spring beauty, but raking, mowing and sweeping produces a lot of yard waste. What to do with it all?
The most eco-friendly answer is to compost it. Nature is the first and best recycler. When we compost plant material, it turns it back into carbon, nitrogen and other elements plants can use to grow. Plants are amazing recyclers. They take carbon and nitrogen from the atmosphere and transform it into all kinds of things we all enjoy, from rhubarb to rutabagas, from shade to sugar…plants make it all, and when we compost, we essentially recycle it into food for plants to be able to do it all over again.
Occasionally it can still be observed that some choose to burn their yard waste. Burning organic matter essentially wastes their nutrients, releasing them into the atmosphere instead of keeping them in the soil where they can nourish plants again. Added to that, the smoke from burning leaves can cause health problems for anyone with breathing issues like asthma. Be aware that there is also a by-law in Altona banning property owners from burning leaves.
How about branches? Those do not belong in your green cart, but you can drop them off at Altona’s compost site anytime, just west of the landfill. And as usual kitchen and bathroom organics can always be added to your green bin. Remember – if it came from a plant or an animal – it’s compostable.
Penner Waste composts all of Altona’s organic waste and sells it at their site just north of Winkler. If you’re looking to get more out of your vegetable garden or flower beds this year, adding compost is an effective natural fertilizer.
So fill up your green cart, and if that’s not enough space, use compostable yard waste bags or other containers, just be sure to check the container requirements on the town website. There’s no limit to how much compost you can place at the curb. Or if you live on a country yard, start a compost bin or pile. Let nature recycle your yard waste.
Connie H. Mueller for ACAN (the Altona Community Action Network)