The Coral Bay Community Council (CBCC) is holding a composting seminar on Thursday June 1, 2017 at 6pm at Indigo Grill in Coral Bay. Dr. Dave Minner of Gifft Hill School/Iowa State University(ISU), and his EARTH program interns from ISU will lead an hour-long tutorial on how to compost, the nuances of composting (you don’t want too much or too little nitrogen, and same for carbon), and the environmental benefits as it relates to Coral Bay and the Virgin Islands. Bring your questions.
Scott Eanes, CBCC’s Environmental Programs Associate, who is leading this CBCC project will also be on hand to offer advice and future assistance.
The goal of this composting seminar is to assist the residents to utilize their vegetable and fruit waste, in combination with some yard waste, and turn it into a soil additive that is really good for your garden. This activity is hosted under a Solid Waste Management grant from the US Department of Agriculture. For further information, contact Scott Eanes at the CBCC office (across from Skinny’s) or at 340-776-2099. Please also contact him if you want on-site help to set up your simple composting system and check out CBCC’s website for more information: www.coralbaycommunitycouncil.org.
According to Scott Eanes, CBCC’s Environmental Programs Associate, who is leading this project, composting at home is the easiest, most efficient way to dispose of our fruit and vegetable scraps, and yard waste. We don’t add to the cost and amount of household waste disposal at bin sites; we reduce “smelly trash” and get a great soil additive for our houseplants and gardens.
This helps our environment and our landfills, and the best thing about it, it’s easy. Anyone can do it. All you need is a small location outside your home, and a frame made from a few wood pallets (free just about everywhere) to a fancy hand-churning recycled plastic barrel.
So what is composting and what does it create?
- Composting is the physical act of creating humus (rich black nutrient-rich soil) by collecting organic waste and letting it decompose naturally.
- Humus is a dark material that can be added to your soil to make it more nutritious to your plants (hint: they like the nitrogen).
Why would you want to compost?
- Over 30% of all our waste is comprised of organic material that doesn’t have to enter our waste stream or our landfills. In addition to food and vegetable and garden scraps you can also add shredded paper and cardboard.
What does composting NOT create?
- Methane gas– which is the “stinky” gas created in landfills
- Methane is a dangerous greenhouse gas that is 47 times greater at trapping heat in our atmosphere than CO2.
To summarize, you can turn your vegetable and fruit waste, in combination with some yard waste into something good for your garden, the soil, and good for our environment in the Virgin Islands.
For further information, contact Scott Eanes at 340-776-2099.
