I wish to take issue with Stephen Mcleod's opening lines in this article, where he says, "There has been a lot of talk lately about the need for municipal composting programs across the Island of Montréal, but so far, it's mostly just talk [...] there's no telling when such a program will actually be available to the citizens of Montréal…". In fact, the Ville de Montréal already has a composting program under way, albeit of limited scale. In NDG it is operated by Éco-Quartier Décarie/Loyola. While it does not currently offer household pick-up, as Independent Messenger Service does, it provides (I believe) four public compost bins in various areas of NDG, and the price is right – a one-time $2 deposit for a key to the bin, as compared with $220 a year for Independent Messenger’s service. I personally acquired a key to my closest compost bin last summer and have been using it continually throughout the year, summer and winter. OK, it’s a 15-min walk, or a 5-min cycle ride, to the bin but, hey – it’s a bit of exercise and it avoids the transportation/fuel issue altogether (unless you consider that the exercise might cause me to eat a little more, or wear down a little more shoe leather). Certainly, the bin I use is maintained regularly and in addition, having provided an email address, I get occasional updates including information on usage and state of the bins and times when I could, if I wished, volunteer to join others doing communal work on it. (I have to say that I have not, personally, volunteered my services in this respect.) For further information, you can contact: Robert Couture, agent de terrain, Éco-Quartier Décarie/Loyola, 514-482-8778 (email: ecoquartier@ecohosting.com).