Curious about Composting? Here’s how to make healthy soil at home 

By: Joe McMahan, Vice President of Sustainability & Shared Value, Maple Leaf Foods 

Canadians across all coasts are on a mission to champion sustainability, with an incredible 90 per cent of parents feeling they have a responsibility to teach their kids how to be eco-friendly according to a recent survey¹. Setting an intention is great, but often we need a helping hand to get started as sometimes information is new to us, let alone our kids! One of the most overlooked sustainable superpowers is healthy soil. Read on to learn how composting can make a difference and follow the four easy steps to get started at home.  

Why is soil important?

Healthy soil stores carbon and increases biodiversity both above and below ground. It impacts the quality of our food, protects nature and even cleanses the air we breathe! At Maple Leaf Foods we work with farmers on a large scale to practice regenerative agriculture which helps to improve soil health, protect crops and enhance our ecosystems, but little changes like composting at home can also have a big collective impact for the better. By recycling food and other organic waste to make valuable fertilizer and nutritious soil, we can all help reduce waste and support our ecosystem for future generations.

How can I compost at home?

Composting is a natural process where organic materials such as food scraps, yard waste, and paper products decompose over time, creating a nutrient-rich fertilizer known as compost. By composting, we can reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills, kick start our garden with nutrient-rich soil and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers. Nearly half (47 per cent¹) of us want to learn how to build their own compost and that’s’ great news for the planet. 

Maple Leaf Foods and kids’ conservation organization, Earth Rangers have teamed up to help inspire the future generation of farmers and climate champions. You don’t need to have a farm to start farming – you don’t even need a back yard or garden! All you need to get started is a cardboard box! Soon your kids will be learning where their food comes from and how we can use our food scraps to give nutrients back to the soil. 

Follow these four simple steps from the Earth Rangers Cardboard Compost Activity:  

What you’ll need:

• Large cardboard box 
• Duct tape or big adhesive tape 
• Peat-free soil  
• Shredded newspaper 
• Compostable materials (vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, eggshell, grass clipping, dead leaves) 
• OPTIONAL: Extra cardboard 

Here’s how you make it: 

• Step 1: First, make sure your cardboard is secured. Tape the bottom and sides so it doesn’t come apart.
  • OPTIONAL: Reinforce the bottom of your box by putting extra cardboard inside.  

TIP: Most cardboard is compostable, making for an ideal base that can later be used in your gardening.  
If you do not have a cardboard box for this activity, you can switch it for a bucket, container, tote bag or by cutting the top off of a large plastic bottle.  

• Step 2:  If you have big pieces of vegetables or fruit, cut or crush your material into smaller pieces so they compost better. Some items like citrus peels (lemons and oranges) can make for a strong-smelling compost if they aren’t cut up into smaller pieces to help them rot more effectively.  
• Step 3: Add a layer of your soil, and layers of shredded newspaper and compostable material in the box. Mix it all together.    
• Step 4:  Set your box aside to give it time for the compost to be created. If you want to keep it outdoors, find a sheltered spot so rain doesn’t soak it. If you’re keeping it indoors, place your box in a warm, sunny area.  When not in use, keep the box closed or covered to keep moisture in. 

TIP:  Come back and check your compost daily! Add more kitchen scraps or plant litter (fallen leaves, twigs, seeds or flowers) to it and stir again. If you see it drying out, you can spray a bit of water on the top layer. 

DO COMPOST  Vegetables scraps Fruit scraps Egg shells Bread crusts Any vegetarian leftovers Wood chips Shredded Newspaper Cut up cardboard (small pieces)

DO NOT COMPOST  Meat (especially if you have pets) Dairy (butter, milk, cheese, yoghurt) Oil, fat, lard Animal bones Sick plants Anything with salt (ex: pickles) Peanut shells Cigarettes

Keen to learn more? Try the all-new Composting Quiz with your Future Farmers here.  

BIO: Joe McMahan is the Vice President of Sustainability at Maple Leaf Foods, where he leads the company’s environmental sustainability initiatives. Maple Leaf foods is the world’s first major carbon neutral food company and sets bold, science-based targets to reduce carbon emissions.  

¹About this Study: These findings are from a survey conducted by Maple Leaf Foods from April 8^th to April 10^th, 2024, among a representative sample of 1,500 online Canadians who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. The survey was conducted in English and French. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/-2.53 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.