Interested in trying your hand at indoor composting with red worms? On Saturday morning, Feb. 12, local vermicomposter Sarah Archer will lead two worm bin workshops on indoor food scrap worm composting at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the City of Ann Arbor’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), at 4150 Platt Road.

Pre-registration is required for this popular event by calling 734-794-6000 extension 43118. Participants may reserve a $25 kit, which includes a bin, half-pound of red worms and the book, Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof. Individuals may also choose to attend the presentation for free — without pre-purchasing the supplies. Optional tours of the city’s single-stream recycling plant are also provided during this open house.

Visitors to Ann Arbor’s Materials Recovery Facility Open House on Saturday, Jan. 8 between 10 a.m. and noon are invited to select recycled postage stamps to create laminated lapel pins, refrigerator magnets and bookmarks and take a tour of the recycling plant. Individuals may drop in at any time for this free event; groups of five or more are asked to pre-register at 734-794-6000 extension 43118.

Listings of the monthly MRF open houses and information on free group MRF tours are available online or by calling the city at 734-794-6000 extension 43118.

Holiday Waste Schedule: No Interruption for MLK Jr. Day

Ann Arbor will provide normal solid waste refuse and recycling pickups on Monday, Jan. 17, 2011, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and throughout the week. City Hall offices and the Drop-Off Station at 2950 E. Ellsworth will be closed on Monday, Jan. 19, 2011. The city's 2011 holiday waste collection schedules are posted online.

Holiday Tree Recycling Options

Holiday evergreen trees without ornaments, stands or bags may be dropped off at no charge in the parking lot adjacent to the Drop-Off Station at 2950 E. Ellsworth through Monday, Jan. 31, 2011. The collected evergreen trees are chipped into mulch or composted. The trees may also be cut and bundled or placed in a compost cart for Ann Arbor’s weekly residential curbside Compostable collection, which resumes in April.

Nancy Stone is the Communications Liaison for Public Services at the City of Ann Arbor. She can be reached at nstone@a2gov.org. Visit www.a2gov.org for more information on local environmental topics including recycling, composting, water conservation, and choices for green living.

Your World provides local environmental information to our community. Contributing partners include: Washtenaw County’s Environmental Health Division; the nonprofit Recycle Ann Arbor; the City of Ann Arbor’s Public Services Area, Natural Area Preservation, Systems Planning programs for Energy, Environmental Coordination, Solid Waste, Transportation, and Water Resources.