Take time to learn about your options for maintaining a healthy outdoor environment. Always aim for chemical-Free, pollinator protecting, and water conserving approaches. Re-use your house and garden organic materials by transforming them into healthy soil amendments.

Composting

Consider Composting

A terrific thing to do all year long to help the earth is to start a composting practice.

Our organic food scraps, release methane, a detrimental greenhouse gas, as they decay in the landfill. While we should try to reduce our waste and only make enough food for our needs, we will always have some scraps to discard and the best approach to that is to start composting.

Making a compost pile in your yard or starting an outdoor or indoor bin is easier than you think and we want to teach you! The talented gardeners at the Spokane County Master Composter/Recycler program offer a set of excellent resources to consider if you are new to the world of composting.

At Earth Day Yakima you and your family can learn about different approaches to composting and get prepared to start putting these ideas into practice at home.

Traditional – Regular – Composting

If you plan to set up a composting unit at home you can add all types of vegetable and fruit wasters, anything made of flour (old bread, donuts, cookies crackers, noodles), Grains cooked or uncooked, Coffee grounds, tea bags, filters, old spices and outdated boxed pantry foods, cardboard egg cartons, and rinsed egg shells. If you are not familiar with traditional composting you can learn more in this Home Composting brochure.

Composting Services Near You

You can learn about our own local Yakima composting pick-up service – High Desert Composting. They offer online guidance to what can and should NOT be composted.

Bokashi Composting

Visit the exhibit to learn about the Bokashi Composting Technique which has its origins in Japan. Benefits of this method are that it is faster and can accommodate more of your waste items than a regular composting practice Learn how you can make your own inexpensive composter from simple, easy to obtain parts. See the composting process in action! If you want to learn more before Earth Day about Bokashi, start with this pamphlet to Learn About Bokashi.

Worm Composting – Vermicomposting

Visit the Earth Day Yakima exhibit to learn about Vermicomposting is a type of composting that uses earthworms and microorganisms to help stabilize and convert active organic materials into a valuable soil amendment. WSU provides great resources to get started. Download this pamphlet from the Spokane Master Composters to get started.

If you are ready to learn more – check out the many books at the Yakima Valley Libraries on this important topic. One that we like is Compost City: Practical Composting Know-How For Small-Space Living, a book by Rebecca Louie