Haines Junction pilot project uses old freezers for composting

The community of Haines Junction, Yukon is trying anew, quicker method of composting.

It is the first Yukon community to use old freezers, which areavailable at most landfills.

The freezers are retrofitted with air vents and drainage made from PVC pipe, and thenfilled with different combinations of food scraps and shredded paper.

Still tinkering to be done

Keir Gervais is Haines Junction's chief administrative officer.

He saidthe pilot project didn't producewhat he calls "black gold" top quality compost. However, it didsignificantly reducethe amount of time it normally takes to compost the same material using traditional methods.

"Using the recipe that we created of different mixes,amount of water, amount of heat, etc.,we reduced the amount of time from 12 months down to three weekswith some significant success," he explained.

Gervais saidthe project was initiated because the village's current method of dealing with compost is ineffective. Currently, residents drop their compost off at the landfill, where birds have the first pick of materials.

The villagehasn't decided if freezer composting will be taken-up at the village level, or if it will be left to individuals, according to Gervais. However, Haines Junction isaiming to divert 80 per cent of its waste from the landfill in the future.