REAPS Environmental Educator Laurel Berg-Khoo tending to a compost bin at the REAPS Garden at UNBC

By Tommy Osborne

Free composting

Free composting program returns to Prince George

Jul 3, 2024 | 3:59 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The Recycling and Environmental Action Planning Society (REAPS) is bringing back its free community composting program, but this time around it will look a bit different than before.

“What we used to do is actually go to businesses and collect kitchen waste from restaurants and places like that. We don’t currently have the resources and people to be able to do that, so what we’re doing this year is we’re welcoming people to come and drop off their kitchen waste, whether it’s home kitchen waste or from businesses like restaurants,” said REAPS Environmental Educator Laurel Berg-Khoo.

“It’s basically just a free service that we’re offering to the community as a way to divert their organic waste from the landfills,” she continued.

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The program just started up again, so at the moment space is limited to around 10 people/businesses, so Berg-Khoo asks people to register first before showing up with compost so REAPS can prepare. Once registered, you can drop off your compost on Wednesdays or Saturdays at the REAPS Garden on UNBC campus. Depending on how popular the program gets Berg-Khoo says there is room for it to grow, and she added she’s excited to get the program started, as composting greatly benefits bot the environment and the community.

“Organic waste in the landfill generates methane gas, which is a greenhouse gas. And in the past years, we had businesses bringing in dozens of kilograms of waste every week, so it can have quite a big impact on how much waste is actually going into our landfills,” she said.

“We’re going to use it in our garden beds once it’s finished to help grow more food, and a lot of that food is going back in various ways into the community,” she continued.

While composting does have many positives for both the environment and community, it does also come with the risk of being an attractant for bears and other wildlife.

“Composting, a lot like garbage, is deemed an attractant, so there is the potential that the smell of it could bring in a bear or multiple bears, as well as then if the bears do come into it, the food source is there for them,” said Conservation Officer Alicia Buchanan.

“UNBC is a fairly natural area, one of the more natural areas of the city of Prince George. So we do have bear sightings throughout the year, as well as deer, coyotes, foxes. We’ve even had a cougar sighting historically there as well,” she continued.

While the potential of bears or wildlife getting into the compost bins is definitely there, Buchanan notes if stored safely and done properly, the risk is severely mitigated. As for REAPS, Berg-Khoo says the composting is done with proper procedure, so she feels confident attracting wildlife won’t be an issue.

“A big part of making sure that wildlife doesn’t get into your compost is composting it correctly in a way that doesn’t generate a lot of smells and things like that to attract wildlife. We also have a fenced in area to help somewhat with that,” Berg-Khoo said

“The way that we would do it is making sure that all the food waste is covered by non-food materials like dead leaves and soil and stuff like that, that helps to just remove those other smells or things like that in,” she continued.

The types of composting materials REAPS is accepting is primarily kitchen waste, like fruits and vegetables. If you’d like to learn more or register for the program, you can visit REAPS’s website here, or reach out at garden@reaps.org or 250-561-7327.

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