News release - the City of Barrie
Barrie has been awarded the grand prize in this year’s Compost Council of Canada’s Great Pumpkin National Growing Contest.
The City’s Solid Waste Operations staff grew a winner that weighed in at 375.5 lbs. this year, exceeding the City’s previous award-winning giant pumpkin in 2021 at 310 lbs. The pumpkin is grown in compost made from yard waste collected from Barrie residents.
The winning municipality receives bragging rights as well as $500 to be used towards a horticultural initiative.
Compost is generated from Barrie's leaf and yard waste collection program and is processed according to the Ontario Guidelines for Compost Quality. Yard waste is collected weekly in Barrie during the months of October and November.
The City reminds residents it’s important to keep yard waste contaminant-free in order to produce Grade AA quality compost. A list of acceptable and unacceptable yard waste items follows:
Acceptable yard waste items:
- Leaves and brush
- Grass clippings
- Sod
- Garden waste
- Bales of straw
- Tree trimmings
- Christmas trees
Unacceptable yard waste items:
- Kitchen waste
- Milled lumber
- Stumps or tree limbs with a diameter larger than 10 cm
- Tree limbs longer than 6 ft
- Unbundled brush or street sweepings
- Dirt or rocks
- Plastic pots and plastic packaging
- Garbage
If unsure where an item of waste goes, residents are encouraged to use the Waste Item Lookup Tool at barrie.ca/WasteItemLookup.
For more information about Barrie’s compost program visit barrie.ca/composting. For more information about yard waste collection visit “Yard Waste Collection” via barrie.ca/CurbsideCollection.
Banner image via the City of Barrie
