BC Pacific Chapter

Join the BC Pacific Chapter on I AM SWANA to network and exchange information on all of your professional needs. We think it is a great Members Lounge.You can make it work for yourself! Post questions and start discussions. Get answers!

This is e-networking with an emphasis on BC and a focus on the Pacific Northwest!!

24th Northwest Regional Symposium and Training Centre March 29- April 3 2009 "One World- Many Solutions" Its a wrap!

The 24th Annual Northwest Regional Symposium wrapped up on April 3 with over 200 people in attendance over a 3 days of Symposium sessions and 3 "warm-up" days of MOLO and LFG training. On behalf of the Organizing Committee - Thank you for all of the kind comments!

Great news! The event managed to hold it's own against a gloomy economic picture of travel and training cutbacks, and it came in with excellent numbers. This says a lot about the people who are SWANA members and who support these events; either through sponsorships, presentations of papers, volunteerism, or just plain outright registration! Check back on the chapter website www.swanabc.org the week of April 21 for updates on presentations. They are posted there for you in case you did not have your USB drive "refreshed" before leaving!

Were you collecting CEUs? Remember to download the form from the website and submit it for validation.
The Symposium at a Glance available online click here


BC Pacific Chapter Group Contest

Could you guess where this Recycling Station is located? City and Country were required. Emy Lai could and as the first correct answer posted on the BC Chapter Group of I AM SWANA received a BC Chapter pen and $25 gift certificate to Amazon.ca .

Stumped? Here was the clue. It is in a former Eastern Block country that restructured amicably.The answer was Prague in the Czech Repubic


From our Archive - Lynn Belanger composts BIG TIME. See the CTV video - Fall Leaves
Click here . CTV News Story

The colours are memorable. But most of us moan about the work of raking fall leaves. It might help to know all the good those leaves can do once they're collected.

It's an autumn ritual, the leaves fall and we have to rake them up.

"They can create a dangerous slippery situation for motorists and cyclists," explains Lynn Belanger of the city's transfer and landfill operations. And they plug storm drains, so now it's up to homeowners to collect them. Leaves and other yard waste end up at a huge composting centre at the Vancouver landfill.

"First, we grind it up in the grinder [you can see behind me]. We turn the piles periodically then we screen the material then we sell it."

The City of Vancouver gets 45,000 tons of yard trimmings, an amount the size of a medium sized cruise ship. That's a lot of steaming compost. The city sells the finished compost back to residents at a cost of $10 per cubic meter.

But you can make your own, and fall leaves are a "must have" addition to the compost heap.

"You need 50 per cent of leaves or brown material in your compost mix so your compost works properly," explained Sharon Slack of the Vancouver Demonstration Garden. Smaller leaves are best: they compost faster but if you only have large ones Stark recommends running the lawnmower over them a few times to chop them up.

And if you have just a few leaves, you can just spread them around your garden because they'll help prevent runoff, soil erosion and soil compaction. Then in the spring, you just dig them in.