BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to an article titled 'Frustration grows as city's yard waste pickup delays continue,' published Nov. 17.
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What is the worst possible outcome of this leaf collection debacle? That your leaves don’t get picked up, ever?
Well, the compostable bags would disintegrate. The leaves would end up under the snow. The freezing, thawing, rain and wind will naturally compost them just like nature has done for millions of years in forests and open fields around the globe.
If this all seems to be a problem, there’s a dramatically simple solution. I’ve never actually raked and bagged leaves. My little electric mower with a mulching blade (you can get one quite inexpensively for virtually any lawn mower) does a stellar job of shredding leaves almost to powder, a valuable addition to the soil; it’s a natural source of nitrogen (fertilizer) and material that helps build up the soil.
Imagine the savings in city labour costs if everyone simply mowed their leaves into their lawn. Imagine the added joy of not having to rake them.
Greg Lubianetzky
Barrie
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