Keeping it Green

LET’S TALK ABOUT CUTTING BACK ON OUR YARD WASTE. Grass clippings alone can account for a whopping 16 percent of residential solid waste and can be beneficial to your lawn! Instead of going to all that trouble of raking & bagging, your clippings can remain on your lawn, working their way back into the soil to enrich it and save on watering. Just don’t let your grass grow too long before mowing. The clippings should be no more than inch long in order to fall onto the soil. Use a sharp mower blade (a mulching mower if you have one). The sharper the blade, the finer the clippings, the faster they decompose. Your compost pile will need grass too! Grass clippings can:

Reduce water from evaporating from your lawn

Reduce lawn wear by creating a cushioning layer

Create better growth by keeping the soil temperature cooler

In addition to ‘cutting’ back on grass clippings, (get it?) there are other types of yard waste that can be reduced. Find someone with a large garden that would appreciate your leaves for composting. Burn your cuttings and branches while it is open burning. Have some friends over and roast hot dogs!

WHAT IT COSTS THE COUNTY TO HAUL YARD WASTE TO MISSOULA: The total cost of 1 refuse truck going to Missoula and back with two trailers cost $1,325. Currently, MT Dept. of Environmental Quality requires even the ash from the burn pile to be hauled to the Missoula landfill. These rising costs of what is considered ‘non-typical waste’ is changing the tide of our local yard waste situation! It’s not like the ‘good old days’, and that’s all there is to it. As a result, our county refuse sites will soon require payment for all yard waste in order to pay for the charge in Missoula. Look for updated signage at the local refuse sites. Let’s do our part to reduce, understand the overall financial picture, and be nice to your refuse attendant! They work hard at their job and do not make the financial decisions on these changes in fees. The Solid Waste Board deliberates long and hard before any increases are considered for non-typical items. Paying for what we produce is a reality, no matter how frustrating it can be. Look for next month’s feature on kitchen composting!