Residents are encouraged to practice grasscycling by leaving grass clippings on your lawn to break down naturally. Grasscycling takes less effort, saves time and money, and also helps build an environmentally sustainable community.
Grass clippings are made up of 80% water and it doesn’t make sense from an environmental standpoint to continue it any longer. That being said, we were faced with very tough decisions this year at budget after unexpected $6.5 Million in cutbacks from the Provincial Government in areas such as policing, public health, child care and paramedics. The timing was not ideal but that was the decision we faced at the time.
Discontinuing the collection of grass clippings is also expected to result in significant cost savings per year for the Region, which can help offset the cost of other important programs and services that the Region provides. Peel is one of the last municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area to move to this change.
Here's some additional information on benefits to grasscycling:
- Saves time and is less work since bagging isn't required. By leaving grass clippings on your lawn, you'll reduce your lawn mowing time by 30%.
- Saves money since less water and fertilizer are required. Grass clippings are 80% water. Leaving cut grass on the lawn will reduce moisture loss and return water to the soil.
- Promotes a healthier lawn, since clippings contain valuable nutrients.
We also appreciate that you may have preferences for how your lawn looks. Grass clippings disappear after a few days, however, if you still don’t want to wait that long, you can also consider:
- using a mulching lawn mower, which has blades designed to push grass clippings down into the ground, speeding up the grass cycling process. If you have a regular lawn mower, mulching kits (found at most hardware stores and garden centres) can be purchased to convert your regular lawn mower into a mulching lawn mower.
- place clippings in a backyard composter in thin layers. Composters are sold at any Peel Community Recycling Centre.
- reducing your lawn area by creating a fusion garden. Check www.watersmartpeel.ca/fusion for tips.
We appreciate that the transition will take some time.
Please note, yard waste will be collected just as before. Please click
here
on what's acceptable to include for collection.
If you would like to speak to someone at the Region of Peel about this change, you may contact Paula Della Bianca at the Region of Peel at 905-791-7800 ext. 4513 or
pauladellabianca@peelregion.ca
.
