Old barrels find new eco-purpose in KDH
Dee Seegars and Ross Cipriano of KDH buildings and grounds with the composter.
But learn more about them, and you might find that they fit right into a vision of a how a town government can be relevant in these days of environmental awareness and thrifty lifestyles.
Primitive in their function, they are 21st century in their purpose. Standing about 4 feet tall, one is a 40-gallon rain barrel, or cistern, rigged up with a faucet. The other, the same size and blue color, is fitted with a frame so it can be cranked 180 degrees vertically. The idea is to flip the composter once a day to stir the contents and help bacteria do their job.
Both are part of an effort by town staffers and a home-schooled student to take an environmental step beyond just tossing cans, paper and bottles into recycling bins.
Townsfolk will be able to buy a rain barrel or composter for $30. The town bought the barrels, which held either olives or pimentos in a previous life, for $15 to $18 each and spent a little bit more for the fixtures and framework. Sessions where people can learn how to assemble them and take them home are scheduled for May 7.
“We’ll get the town’s money back out of it and people will have a very useful, environmentally protective tool,” said Town Clerk Mary Quidley, who is coordinating the effort but is quick to credit others for making it happen.
Commissioners gave the go-ahead for the town’s “green challenge” in 2008 with its mantra, “to live green you’ve got to save the blue in Kill Devil Hills,” placing an emphasis on conserving water, which is not always abundant on the Outer Banks.
It has grown to include seminars and tips on encouraging green living, such as planting with hay bales, which retain water and eventually break down as fertilizer. They also provide relief for bad backs by raising the gardens a few feet off the ground.
Last year, the town demonstrated how to plant “upside down tomatoes” near the entrance to Town Hall. Holes were cut in the bottoms of hanging buckets and the tomato plants grew downward. Visitors could help themselves.
“If there was a ripe tomato, they were welcome to grab one,” Quidley said.
Last August, the first rain barrel effort got under way with dual recycling results. Buckets that had previously contained salt at the water plant were reused to collect rain water. People gathered to learn how to rig up the fixtures and paint the barrels to disguise their industrial past. The water can be used to water gardens and potted plants.
Coming up are seminars on composting by Rae Kelly, a home-schooled student working on her senior project. She had decided to focus on composting, and it happened that Quidley needed some help. She found the barrels at a boating supply business in Manteo.
“She couldn’t have come in at a better time,” Quidley said.
At last week’s meeting, Kelly provided a list of “163 things you can compost,” which covered just about everything organic that will break down naturally, from wood chippings to weeds. If you have some bat guano you need to get rid of, it’s on the list.
Other plans for 2010 include expanding the town’s green Web site, developing brochures and conducting workshops on water conservation, lawn care and creating rain gardens. Energy audits will check to see how town buildings are doing.
Success, however, will depend on how much families and homeowners embrace the effort. So far, curbside recycling has been slow to catch on, with about 460 out of some 6,000 households participating.
Still, the town has come a long way from the days when it simply picked up the trash and hauled it to a landfill.
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