The Comox Strathcona waste management (CSWM) service will open the compost education centre in Campbell River (228 South Dogwood Street) on Wednesday, April 10 at 10 am and in the Comox Valley (4795 Headquarters Road, Courtenay) on Thursday, April 11 at noon.
The compost education centres offer a variety of free workshops on composting, organic gardening, conservation and lawn care. Our on-site educators are there to provide facility tours, to showcase the benefits of diverting organics through composting, to answer questions and to give helpful tips on maintaining a backyard composting program.
The centres are beginning the season with a variety of programs targeting different age groups and areas of interest. The Comox Valley compost education centre will be featuring a youth master composter training program for those between the ages of 13 - 17. Youth that have a love for the outdoors and the environment will be trained to be ambassadors, to encourage people in their community to start composting, or to offer support to residents that are already composting and may be having difficulties or need just a little encouragement. This program runs once a week on Thursdays for four weeks beginning Thursday, April 18th from 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. and does require some additional volunteers hours to gain a certificate.
In Campbell River, the event season will start this Saturday with the compost education centre centre jointly hosting a mason bee workshop with the City of Campbell River at the community centre, 401-11th Ave., beginning at 10 a.m. Guest speaker, Al Morton, will cover such topics as the lifestyle of our native mason bee and the importance of pollination, how, when and where to start to start your bee colony, and the building of bee houses, nesting boxes and nesting tubes. CSWM educator Elaine Jansen will welcome guests to the compost education centre and give an overview of the programs that are being offered throughout the season.
The CSWM service also encourages elementary, middle and high schools, and community groups, to make arrangements with our educators to bring students or members to the centre for an environmentally-focused and interactive learning session.
For more information on all the workshops and presentations delivered through the CSWM's compost education centres including this month's features visit www.cswm.ca/composting.
The Comox Strathcona waste management (CSWM) service is a function of the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) and is responsible for two regional waste management centres that serve the Comox Valley and Campbell River, as well as a range of transfer stations and smaller waste-handling and recycling facilities for the electoral areas of the CVRD and the Strathcona Regional District. The CSWM service manages over 100,000 tonnes of waste and recycled material and oversees a number of diversion and education programs.