Compost initiative gives back to community

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

H&H Huxted’s composting pilot project has come a long way since the proposal was first brought before a supportive but slightly sceptical council last May, asking for three extra town-owned acres to the South of the recycle yard. Today, only a year later, Strathmore is already reaping the rewards. The land now contains several large heaps of compost – materials already proving valuable in one of Huxted’s latest initiatives, which produced 200 lbs of vegetables that were recently donated to the Wheatland County Food Bank.
“We’re always happy to get fresh veggies,” said Val, a volunteer with the Wheatland County Food Bank, who asked not to have her last name mentioned.
“They’ve always been a great community supporter. I’ve known them for years and we get lots of support for everybody in the community. It’s nice to see that they took that initiative.”
The donation was equivalent to approximately 20 hampers, which represents only a small percentage of hampers supplied to the community that often requires over 400 hampers a week.
With the help of the nutrient-rich compost – created from leaves, wood, mulch, food scraps, paper, and grass – H&H Huxted managed to grow potatoes, beets, onions, corn, and carrots in a flower bed right in middle of the recycle yard.
The production became a reality after the project received the green light just over a year ago. On June 4, 2014, with the support of the Alberta Environment, town council gave Huxted the thumbs up to proceed with a three-year composting pilot project. The class two site in Strathmore, meant vegetative matter, such as yard material, garden waste, and trees, could be turned into 100 per cent organic compost.
“I’m really excited about where this is heading,” said Councillor Bob Sobol.
“We’re going to have our backyard compost, our grasses, being composted instead of going to the landfill. And at the end of the day this is what’s going to make a difference financially for us. That’s heavy weight we send to the landfill every day in the summer time and I’d much rather see that composted and used and reused.”
To ensure the project’s success, Huxted purchased a wood chipper with the capacity to handle pallets, trees and fences, and enlisted the expertise of his operation’s manager Bruce Hempel, who came ready to hit the ground running with five years of composting experience with Agricore.
The piles currently on the site reach up to 71 degrees Celsius before being turned. The finished organic material, contains traces of iron, copper, zinc, manganese, and boron which contribute to plant growth. The material also acts similar to a sponge in soaking up water, and in turn requires less watering in the summer. The product can then be used as a fertilizer substitute on green spaces, parks, gardens, fields, and playgrounds.
While Colin Huxted, owner of H&H Huxted, made good on last year’s promise to have compost product available this year, his ideas for greener initiatives are far from accomplished.
“Dad want’s to green it up, he wants it so it’s not just a waste disposal,” said Cody Huxted, the son of Colin Huxted.
“Next year we’re going to plant more trees. We’re just trying to show how it turned the compost into beautiful things. It’s not pretty stuff that comes here. We were trying to make it less of an eyesore. By next year, this time, it’ll be a lot of big changes again. It’ll be a whole different deal, a whole different place to make everything greener and cleaner.”
Huxted jumped through various hoops with Alberta Environment to turn the site into class one before the Alberta 55 Plus Summer games. As a class one site, which Huxted had originally intended after the pilot projects three years were complete, the project would accept sludge from water treatment plants and organics such as food scraps which in turn saves more money for the town.
“His rates of composting are above the norm above what’s required, Colin is just doing an excellent job,” Sobol said.
“This is just very early… and it’s a pretty foreign concept to us. A lot more discussion will take place in the future, we’ve certainly supported the concept, that why council authorized the use of some of our land for the composting project. It’s a partnership that we have with the gentleman who’s very interested in where we’re going in the community in terms of composting and the environment. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved in this.”