Media Contact: Don Perdue

One of the town’s best-kept secrets lies just beyond the fields of Elmer Elson Elmentary School, on the gravel road heading south towards the trestle.

It’s a composting facility, where locals can drop off their grass clippings and other compostable material like fruit and vegetable peelings for free three days a week.

The composting facility has been in operation for at least a decade, according to Town of Mayerthorpe employee Candi Graumann.

“I’ve been working here 11 years, and it was in operation when I started,” she said.

How it works is like this: on Tuesdays and Thursdays, between 12-8 p.m., and on Saturdays between 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., people can travel out to the facility, just a few hundred metres beyond Elmer Elson School, on the left side of the gravel road, and drop off their compostable material at the well-marked, fenced compost yard.

Those wanting to use composted material for their flower and vegetable gardens and lawns can phone up the town office at 780-786-2416.

“People tell us what they want, and we fax the request over to public works. The people then come in to the town office and pay us for the composted material, and public works will deliver it to them free of charge.”

Graumann said the town charges $20 a yard for compost.

“People usually buy one or two yards worth,” she said.

She said the town keeps no statistics on who takes compostable material out to the facility, nor on who purchases compost.

Town public works foreman Barry Gylander said lots of people use the composting service.

“People are dropping compostable material out at the facility all the time when it’s open, and we deliver lots of compost to people who’ve purchased it from the town.”

Gylander said the compost facility used to be unfenced and unattended.

“But some people got in the habit of dropping off their garbage out there, so we had to put a stop to that and put up a fence.

“We also have on-site supervision during the hours the composting facility is open; that way we prevent non-compostable material from getting in.”

Graumann said the compost facility usually opens in May and stays open until the end of October.

Anyone wanting further information on the composting facility can phone the Town of Mayerthorpe at 780-786-2416 during office hours.

“Any of the town employees will be able to give people information about things like rates and times for the composting facility,” said Graumann.