Food waste does not equal compost, in André Chollat's book, at least not here and now. He thinks that the decision to ban food waste from general waste later this year will require a shift in how we look at food. Composting, Chollat says, comes from the latin verb componere that means: to mix it describes the process where de-composition takes place to become humus (soil in latin), the organic component that allows new life to grow.
"Composting used to be a natural process when a major part of the food production was done around the house. Remnants of food that were not utilized, would be returned to the ground through a compost bin or pile," Chollat said, "But today, food is not directly related to our surroundings. It comes from a store where it is wrapped in plastic, tied in bundles, moistened and ventilated, prepared, pre-cooked, refrigerated or frozen. We don't know how it came out of the ground, how it grew and in what condition and location it's been produced."
That kind of food is not so easy to dispose of, Chollat says. To illustrate his point, he describes what a shrink-wrapped cucumber turns into when it rots. "It has the consistency of a freezie and it smells so bad that people want to throw out the whole thing," he says. "People recycle cans and plastic but food waste is more yucky to handle."
"Food waste is mixed in with material that takes years or centuries to decompose," Chollat says.
The compost Chollat is taking out this cold winter day does not contain any prepared food waste, in part because he's already sorted it for chicken scraps. He grabs a spade and a bucket filled with vegetable and fruit peels and heads out to a garden plot.
"I dug this out last year," he says, pointing to a roughly four by seven-metre plot. "I've prepared the soil and now it's a simple thing." Chollat has removed the rocks that will be used for a garden path skirting the flower bed. He now digs a straight trench, about 30 centimetres deep, neatly piling the soil on one side. He's slightly out of breath when he is done and takes a moment before he says, "You see, I can put the composting material directly into the ground." He shows me the pail before dumping it into the ground.
He points to the stretch of soil to the left of the trench and says, "This is where I put in the last load." Spreading the compost into the trench, Chollat spots a grapefruit peel and explains, "I wouldn't use citrus in a bin but when you put it into the ground, every cubic inch has millions of bacteria. In a limited environment like a compost bin, you don't have as many bacteria. If I had to use a bin, I would bring in soil from the garden to accelerate the composting process."
Chollat explains that citrus fruits have antibacterial properties. He laughs, "A lot of cleaning products include citrus for that reason." Many other ingredients interfere with bacterial decomposition such as coffee grinds, grease, sugar and salt in excess, flour and dairy products, says Chollat.
When the grapefruit peel is in the soil, Chollat chops it up with the spade and says, "Even in the soil, it's better to cut it into small pieces." After spreading the compost, Chollat fills the trench with about 15 centimetres of soil. He says, "If you come back in six weeks, you won't find anything but soil and I can start seeding and planting right on top of it."
Chollat explains that a compost bin attracts unwanted attention from rodents and ants but he doesn't have that problem when he puts the compost directly into the soil. He said, "Rats and mice are not diggers unless there are openings in the ground - they won't show any interest in compost that is buried. Composting that way also does not attract any ants but bins sometimes do."
Chollat points to the soil and says, "This is one of the techniques that can be applied. What you do with the compost is a function of what and how much you have."
Together with his wife, Anne Franc de Ferrière - Chollat, Chollat has been composting for commercial businesses on Bowen for over 20 years. He said, "At the peak, we had five tonnes of compost a year, now we have about half of that." He points out another place on the five-acre property and says, "This is a raised bank of compost that we have buried over a 10-year-period. There is a huge quantity of soil underneath that is enriched and can be removed for planting."
A few metres away, there is a pile of cut branches and weeds. Chollat says, "With this kind of material, composting takes about two and a half years. Rather than leaving this out to be collected for green waste, this returns it to the cycle of nature."
Chollat adds, "If you have access to a chipper, you can crush the branches. The smaller the particles are, the faster they decompose. But smaller particles need to be properly turned and aerated to achieve the proper balance."
Composting green waste is much more straightforward, says Chollat and returns to the question of food waste. "Given the actual artificial approach to food production, and food consumption, composting also becomes an artificial means of dealing with food waste. A governmental decision to eliminate food waste from garbage collection may be a logical decision in principle if it is addressing the problem of food waste in a knowledgeable manner." Chollat thinks that in order to deal with food waste, it has to be separated into natural food waste and prepared food waste as they cannot be composted in the same way.
"If you buy ready-made food, you sometimes don't know what is in there. There are some packages of food you could open in ten years and you could still eat it. Just imagine how that interferes with decomposition," Chollat says. "You can't put everything into a compost bin and expect everything to be composted in three weeks. It's not realistic."
Finding a local solution for food waste makes sense to Chollat. He says, "Since we don't have a huge quantity [of food waste] on Bowen Island, it would be smart to have a pig and chicken farm. It could be an experimental facility under the governance of the municipality. The pigs and chickens would take care of most of the remnants. The best solution usually draws from models that have worked well in the past." Chollat believes that a proper analysis of the community's needs can lead to the best choice of composting techniques.
