Compost is an important input for Salt Spring market gardeners. Is a central composting facility a viable way to create more of the high-quality black gold? The answer will depend on information contributed by islanders to the Community Composting Feasibility Study, undertaken by the Salt Spring Island Agricultural Alliance.

Over the next several weeks, the Agricultural Alliance will be calling farmers to determine how much demand there is for finished compost and will also be doing a feedstock survey to find out how much organic waste is available. Horse owners, tree trimmers and restaurant owners will all be on our calling list, so do not be surprised if you receive a call from Philip Rhem, Leonie Muldoon or John Humphries asking for a few minutes of your time.

Sufficient raw material and demand for the finished product are essential. A central composting facility must also meet regulatory requirements and be economically viable. It needs a suitable location and someone interested in operating the facility. Sounds tough to get all these ducks to line up, but there are lots of reasons why it makes sense to produce more compost on island.

The closure of the Hartland landfill to organic materials in 2012 will necessitate alternative solutions for waste disposal on the island. Also highly desirable is an alternative to outdoor burning of leaves and brush, which causes local air pollution. Expanded local food production, an objective of the Area Farm Plan, will require more compost. Trucking waste off-island and importing finished compost may be economical at the moment, but it may be neither economically nor environmentally sustainable in the long term.

If you regularly have large quantities of organic material that you don’t want to compost yourself and would like removed from your property, or if you chip and haul, or have the perfect site for a composting operation, please contact me, the project coordinator, at 250-537-2616.

The feasibility study is funded by the Islands Agri-food Initiative, the Islands Trust, the CRD, the Farmers Institute, Island Natural Growers and the Earth Festival Society. It will be completed in March 2010.