By: Areni Kelleppan, Green Calgary

The benefits of rain barrels, composters

Calgarians are getting ready for spring, and that means gardening.

With a small investment and a little hard work, we can make our homes more appealing and welcoming. A tree here, a shrub there and a few plants sprinkled throughout will not only make your neighbours smile, you will, too.

And whether you skillfully harvest home-grown veggies or are just starting out with a few perennials, nothing makes your plants happier than un-chlorinated rainwater and nutrient rich compost. 

Composting pilot project sees early success

In 2012, Calgarians threw out more than 214,000 tonnes of garbage into local landfills.

More than half that garbage was in the form of food and yard waste that could have otherwise ended up as compost, said the City of Calgary, which is now entering the third-year of a Green Cart pilot project in four Calgary communities testing the impact of a food and yard waste diversion program.

Since its inception, the City's Green Cart project has collected and composted more than five million kilograms of material from the 7,500 participating homes, reducing the total amount of garbage collected in the four communities by 40 per cent.