No doubt you've heard about municipalities in Metro Vancouver starting curbside food waste collection programs where food waste is tossed in with yard trimmings.  Why don't we have this on the North Shore?  The short answer is that we have nowhere to put it.  Currently, all yard trimmings collected from North Shore homes are taken to a separate yard at the North Shore Transfer Station (a Metro Vancouver operated facility) where they are mixed with other yard trimmings and untreated wood dropped off by residents and landscapers.  The material is then loaded into transfer trailers and taken directly to Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre in south Richmond for composting. Because the yard at the North Shore Transfer Station is not covered or enclosed in any way to keep both odours and pests at bay, we are unable to include food scraps with yard trimmings at this time.  North Shore Recycling Program staff are working closely with Metro Vancouver to find a way to allow food scraps and yard trimmings to be taken to the North Shore Transfer Station, but it's a complicated situation (costs, odour issues, etc.).  We hope to have more news for North Shore residents in a few months.  In the meantime, the most effective, earth-friendly and efficient way of dealing with food scraps is to compost them in your backyard.  To help, the NSRP is developing a variety of programs, including a 'how-to compost' video series you can view online at howto.northshorerecycling.ca or on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/northshorerecycling.