Smith gets her hands dirty

Story and photo by Chris Thibeault

Nipissing MPP Monique Smith got her hands dirty last Friday during a 'Vermicomposter' demonstration by students at St. Alexander Catholic School this past Friday.

Smith, joined by members of Greening Nipissing and local Ontario Trillium Foundation representative Carol Ann DiBartolomeo, learned that the 'Vermicomposter' teaches people how to reduce their organic waste and is part of Greening Nipissing’s Environmental Education Program. Vermicomposting is done by using red-wiggler worms to turn organic waste into nutrient rich soil and the worms don’t eat just anything.

“(The worms) don’t like citrus stuff. You can put a little bit of orange peels. They don’t like onions, but they really like pancakes,” said Cassidy Dunn, a student of Ms. Chasse’s Grade 5/6 class at St Alexander’s.

Greening Nipissing’s Program Director Desiree Ducharme says the program was made possible by a $58,600 grant from the Trillium Foundation. The money is being used to fund programs like Adopt-A-Worm-Bin, which provides classes with vermicomposters to reduce their organic waste.

“Students are very responsive of the information; specifically this class. They’ve done a lot of education around the environment, so, they were already very aware.”

“I always ask what the kids are doing at home to reduce their waste, and they are very creative in coming up with ideas to reduce waste or reuse things. They are just doing amazing things,” says Ducharme.

Greening Nipissing is a local charitable organization that promotes environmental issues and awareness in the Nipissing area. For more information on Greening Nipissing, visit their website at www.greeningnipissing.org.