June 13, 2013

WORM COMPOSTING REDUCES PAPER WASTE AND MORE

Worms. You see them slithering across the blacktop after a rainstorm. You hear rumor that the birds get up early to win themselves one, and fishermen swear the fish bite more when there's one on the end of a hook. Now, worms are being used to reduce waste in some parts of the world.

Recently, the Green Living Centre in Sydney, Australia, launched a pilot program using worms to reduce the waste produced by a local restaurant. The center collected food waste from the restaurant and placed it in a 1.5-litre bin filled with earthworms. Over a 6-month period, the worms broke down the equivalent of 6,500 hamburgers worth of waste and made 323 litres of organic fertilizer and 40 kilograms of compost. Plans to expand the size of the project and process more waste are now underway.

Worm composting isn't just valuable for reducing food waste; a worm farm can also process paper waste, including paper towels, napkins and ordinary writing paper. This form of composting is ideal for homes, too, because it produces fewer odors than traditional composting and can even be done inside. If you're interested in worm farming, you can purchase live worms online along with specialized composting bins for accommodating them.

Have you already discovered the benefits of worm composting? Tell us about your experiences in the "Comments" section.