ANN ARBOR'S



Fall Leaf Compost Challenge

-Y '1l
S

Try composting leaves at home this fall. Your yard leaves can break down into soil
just as the leaves in the forest "vanish" each year.
"No Excuses"' says Mother Nature.
It will take too 1 ,ch ime. Bagging and dragging all of your leaves to the front
curb requires much more effort than raking some leaves into a pile in your back yard.
Just sprinkle a shovel-full of dirt over the leaf pile and let it sit!
I have no space for a compos(p le Leaves are mostly air. A pile of fall leaves
will reduce to 1/3 of its original size in a few weeks. You can pile leaves under trees
or in a corner of your garden. Leaves can be also spread around gardens and shrubs
as mulch.
I'm all thumbs. I burn cookies and cu to ito iwi wroi n. flow can
I compost with my track record? Composting fall leaves at home is a no-fail
proposition. Even if you don't do anything but let a pile of leaves sit, they will break
down into compost soil on their own.
What if I have questions about composting? At the outdoor Compost
Education Center, composting is explained by signs and exhibits. It's located at the
Ann Arbor Park Department's Leslie Science Center on 1831 Traver Road. If you
want to talk to someone about composting, call Project Grow, 996-3169; the
Washtenaw County Cooperative Extension Service, 971-0079; or the Ecology
Center, 761-3186.
My participaton won't make a dijference to anyone. Home composting
makes a big difference in saving tax dollars that would otherwise be spent on staffing
larger leaf collection and composting programs. Home composting is part of the
State's waste reduction strategy. Take up the challenge to recycle leaves this fall.
" Leaf them for Nature."

Yes! I want to meet the Chailenge and will compost leaves at home.
Call 994-2807 and ask for the Fall Leaf Composting Challenge Kit or write to: Waste
Watcher, City of Ann Arbor Solid Waste Department, P.O. Box 8647, Ann Arbor,
MI 48107.
COMPOST!
MICHIGAN
Ann Arbor WsteWtr Fl/itr191/2pg

Ann Arbor Waste Watcher Fall/Winter 1991192

page 7