Mr. Speaker, May 4 to May 10 is national composting week and this year's theme is “Composting, going back to our roots”.
Composting is simple to do. You just have to put all your organic waste in a bin, outside your house, and let time and nature do the work.
Even though it is that simple, only about 20% of households do it. Considering that a family generates some 225 kilograms of organic waste annually, and that one pound of such waste produces between and 4 and 10 cubic feet of methane, it only makes sense to start reducing greenhouse gases at home.
The efforts of amateur composters might save our planet from environmental deterioration.
I want to pay tribute to my father, Dr. Albert Alarie, who was a pioneer in this area, since he initiated composting in the scientific and municipal worlds, as early as in the 1950s. His work as an educator and an interpretive writer provided the foundation of all that is now being done in Quebec, in this area. We owe him the benefits that we are now reaping.