A graphic designer from north-central Iowa is the winner of the 2012 International Compost Awareness Week poster contest.
Emily Bibler, of Blairsburg, says she learned all she could about composting from the U.S. Composting Council, then tried to cram it all onto the single poster.
“I did it by hand and then did the rest by computer, just trying to figure out how to best portray the idea of compost and all the ways it could be used,” Bibler says. The end product was a colorful, educational array.
“In the front ground, it has vegetables and fruit and some other plant materials that are used to make compost,” Bibler says. “As you start going into the background, it has this kind of Grant Wood-type landscape with a field with crops growing, a swamp, a golf course, a forest of trees, another garden, a roadside project.” Bibler says many Iowans may not realize the versatility of compost.
“I wanted to show that in the poster, all the different uses that compost has,” Bibler says. “A lot of people just think, ‘Oh, you just throw it on your vegetables,’ but, no. It can be used in agriculture, it can be used in horticultural projects, for erosion control on golf courses. It’s this product that can be used for all these different things.”
Her poster will be used for International Compost Awareness Week, which will be held May 6 to 12. Learn more about composting at: “www.compostingcouncil.org“.
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City