Composting

Hi Kids!

We hope your school year has been going great so far. Did you do anything this summer to help the environment in Cuyahoga County? Did you recycle, have a garage sale so people could reuse your unwanted items or buy things with as little packaging as possible? We saw many kids and their parents at outdoor stands who brought reusable bags to carry home their fruits and vegetables. No more throwaway bags! We are so proud of you.

The Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District is getting ready to help citizens with all the leaves which are soon going to be falling from their trees. In fact, it is more than just leaves. We call it yard waste. Yard waste is just another name for leaves, grass clippings, tree limbs, and woody brush. Each year about one-fifth of all the waste created in our county comes from yards! We don't want to landfill all this yard waste, but what can we do with it?

The answer is to use your yard waste for compost and mulch. We have instructions for your family to learn how to compost, called "Dirt Delight". If you would like more information, we have brochures and even a guide about vermicomposting (composting with worms!). Just leave your name and address. Your family can also rake or mow your leaves and grass and spread them around your trees, bushes and gardens. This is called mulching. Over the winter, the yard waste will decompose and will make your soil richer next spring. It will also help keep weeds out of your gardens next spring.
Some of the communities in Cuyahoga county provide leaf collection. Be sure to call your City Services Department to check this out. You might also want to visit the Greater Cleveland Ecology Association where you can see composting in action. Leave a message for more information.

With all these options for your yard waste, we will "leaf" the decision to you and your family!

Recipe: Dirt Delight

Don't throw away your grass clippings and dead leaves. Save them to make Dirt Delight (our name for compost!). Just mix, add water, and bake for the best taste treat your flowers and vegetables ever had. Here's the recipe so you can start baking this weekend!

Ingredients:

Bags of fresh grass clippings
Bags of dead leaves and clippings
Shovelful of dirt
Water
Air

Directions:

Mix or layer grass and leaves evenly. Keep adding until you have a pile that is 3'x3'x3' (one cubic yard). If you add some dirt, it will cook faster. Sprinkle lightly with water.

Don't touch the pile for about a week. Then add a little water and turn the pile with a garden fork or shovel once each month. The center of the pile will get pretty warm, which means the organic material is decomposing.

Bake for about 6 months. The Dirt Delight is finished when it is dark brown and in small pieces that will fall through your fingers. The size of your pile will be about one-half as big as it was at the beginning.

Serve by itself or mix with dirt. Feeds all you garden guests.

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Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District 323 Lakeside Avenue W., Suite 400 Cleveland, OH 44113 Phone: (216) 443-3749 Fax: (216) 443-3737 E-mail: [email protected] Sign up in guestbook