The Town of Cochrane pressed home the value of its new curbside organic collection program by offering free compost, Apr. 22, and many residents took them up on the offer.

Vehicles were  lined up when the gates opened at the Cochrane lagoon and waste and recycling manager Fabrizio Bertolo was beaming over the response.

Diverting organics from landfills has many positive effects, says Bertolo, and turning it into compost is one of them.

"It's very good stuff," he says. " It's a soil amendment, very rich in nutrients and can be used again in our gardens and  yards. We want to show the people the great thing about collecting organics from them."

Thirty tonnes were made available, with each household welcomed to take up to 20 kg that day. There was some left, but that compost won't go to waste. It will be used as part of the next free events, likely in May and June.

"Nothing is scheduled yet, but stay tuned," says Bertolo.

While it will be a couple of weeks before the final data is available on response to the curbside organics program. Bertolo says they estimate 70 per cent of households participated in the first week and an average of 10 tonnes was collected daily.

It could take a little time for people to adjust to the schedule for the new program, though, and this might help. Basically you put out the green bin the day after your regular garbage and recyclables are collected. The only exception is the Riverview and Gleneagles neighbourhoods, where organics are picked up on Mondays because their garbage day falls on a Friday.

The compost provided wasn't locally brewed;.it came from the same facility that is taking Cochrane's organics. It takes about a year for organics collected to be turned into the rich compost.

"Next year we'll have the compost made out of our organics."