If you’ve always wanted to go green but never really knew how, this could be your chance to trash some old habits.
Experts will be teaching people just like you the fine art of turning garbage into eco-friendly top soil.
Mimi Cooper, the recycling coordinator for the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority, will be conducting a Backyard Composting Workshop Wednesday evening.
“Just the basics will be covered with mixing your carbon and nitrogen or brown and green sources together,” she says.
According to Cooper, composting not only reduces waste that would have been sent to landfills, it also creates a great soil product.
Compost is made from organic material like fruits and vegetables that is usually thrown into the garbage. Food scraps and yard waste that can be composted makes up 20 to 30 percent of the waste in landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Brown sources are materials like dead leaves, branches and twigs, which provide the carbon for the soil while green sources provide the nitrogen from materials like grass clippings, fruit and vegetable scraps, and coffee grounds.
Composting also suppresses plant diseases and pests, encourages beneficial bacteria and fungi growth and reduces the need for artificial fertilizers.
The workshop is designed for people who want better gardens and also for those who want to reduce their carbon footprint.
“State College Borough already has the curbside organic collection,” Cooper says. “What we are hoping is that we want to raise the awareness of organic cycling in the rest of the county.”
Centre Region Parks and Recreation and Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority are hosting the Backyard Composting Workshop on Wednesday, May 27 at the Millbrook Marsh Nature Center, 2643 Gateway Drive, State College.
The class will last about an hour and a half, and is just about taking your first steps as a composter.
It begins at 6:30 p.m. and there is a $20 fee. All attendees will receive a complimentary Earth Machine composter.
Editor’s Note: Wednesday’s workshop is now full. There will be another composting workshop sometime next fall.
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