RED ROCK — The township of Red Rock has decided to participate in an intuitive new composting initiative brought to them — and other municipalities across Canada — by Food Cycle Science.
Founded in 2011, Food Cycle Science is a Canadian company based out of Ottawa.
They currently have partnerships with 105 Canadian municipalities — including Sioux Lookout, Kenora, Hearst, and Red Lake to name a few in the northern Ontario region.
“Our municipal solutions help many small, rural, remote, and northern communities keep food waste out of their landfills,” said Food Cycle’s municipal program coordinator Jacob Hanlon. “Many communities here in Ontario who often face struggles with food waste management or where curbside green bin programs just aren’t necessarily a viable option for them.”
To mitigate and properly handle the breaking down of food waste, Food Cycle Science created the FoodCycler.
The FoodCycler is a low-energy appliance about the size of a bread machine and can be kept right in your kitchen or anywhere that has a plug-in outlet.
“You can put in your food waste — this could include things like meat, poultry, fish, dairy, even some bones,” said Hanlon. “You push a button and then in a matter of hours — typically eight hours or less — you end up with a dry, odourless, and nutrient-rich soil amendment… very similar to a fertilizer in terms of its nutrient value.”
The FoodCycler processes around one to three kilograms of food waste per cycle.
The improper disposal of food waste in landfills produces methane and contributes to the increased presence of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.
Left to decompose naturally, food waste instead produces carbon dioxide.
Of course, improper waste storage — particularly in northern communities — also leads to other dangers, potentially attracting animals like bears, for example.
“A lot of residents like to use [waste from the FoodCycle] in their home garden or even in their lawn,” said Hanlon.
In other words, people are given more options when it comes to what to do with their food waste when they use the FoodCycler — from personal use to dropping off compost at local compost sites, farms, and community gardens.
“It’s a truly decentralized approach where residents are empowered to manage their food waste right in their homes,” said Hanlon. “It avoids unnecessary labour and costs, there’s no greenhouse gas emissions coming out of putting trucks on the road, and there’s no extra infrastructural costs to the municipality or to the residents either.”
Concerns were raised by Coun. Gord Muir about the cost of the FoodCycler pilot project when weighed against the cost of instituting a recycling program in the township.
Red Rock does not currently have a municipal plastics recycling program.
Implementing a recycling program would cost about $18,000 to implement — around the same cost of the Food Cycle project.
Hanlon wouldn’t say that one should be chosen over the other but did stress that the FoodCycler is a great candidate for federal and provincial subsidies which would alleviate financial concerns.
A survey went out shortly after Red Rock’s council meeting on Oct. 17 where people could sign-up to be some of the first to receive a FoodCycler.
The survey closed on Wednesday.
“I do believe as it stands that we do have 30 people that want to participate in it, so that’s great,” said Mayor Darquise Robinson. “I think it’s just great overall for the municipality, for one thing. When it comes down to numbers, you’re not getting so much garbage in the landfill site, right? So, you can extend the use of your landfill site. Also, when it comes to composting [for] flower gardens, vegetable gardens, you’re just putting that product back into the earth and you’re reusing it.”
Robinson is a firm believer that the benefits to the environment and the people of Red Rock will encourage others to sign-up for the program.
“I don’t see how… more people aren’t getting involved,” said Robinson. “Maybe once the initial program runs through and people see and realize how well it’s going to work, then we might get more people to sign up.”