Why Compost?

Why is composting benifical?

Approximately 30% of household waste is food and organics waste, which can be diverted from landfill through appropriate programs.
Composting minimises our city’s carbon footprint.
Food waste can be composted and then redistributed back into the community in place of chemical fertilizers; for gardens, lawns and local farms.
Won’t my compost break down in landfill anyway? Why bother with compost?
- Buried organics in landfills undergo anaerobic decomposition, meaning they decompose without oxygen. This actually produces more greenhouse gas emissions in the form of methane, which is much more harmful than CO2.
- Additionally, when we remove organics from landfill we can use completed compost for fertilizer.

What can I compost?

What can be composted depends on what grade of compost is to be made and how compost is going to be processed. This would be a Kelowna specific question for our government.

Most municipal compost plans accept almost anything organic!
Food Waste
- Table scraps, fruit, veggies, meat bones, eggshells, teabags
Paper Fiber
- Paper egg cartons, tissues, paper towels
Other
- Sawdust, houseplants, bedding from pet cages, drier lint, hair

How does it work?

Again, Kelowna’s compost system will be unique to our city, but we can draw from other Canadian cities with successful composting programs to see what one would look like here.

Residents would be required to purchase biodegradable compost bags (which can already be bought in Kelowna at the Unless Market on Bernard) or use paper bags to store compost.
Curbside collection would make composting just as easy as throwing out the garbage, simply take it to the curb once a week.
Kelowna would need a composting facility to store food waste and process organic material