Hauling off green waste to recycle or compost doesn't make sense. Photo by mecookie.

Here in San Antonio there’s a pilot program for green waste pickup.

While I applaud the efforts to reduce waste in landfills, any program which hauls green waste to a central location is stupid.

This type of program is built on several false assumptions.

Green Waste is not Waste

The first of which is that green “waste” (organic household garbage) is an undesirable by product and needs to be hauled off somewhere and properly handled.

In truth, green “waste” is not “waste” and can be easily handled by the producer of the “waste” on site.

Remember when everyone bagged grass clippings and threw them away?  Then it was discovered or concluded that leaving all that nitrogen rich organic matter on your lawn was beneficial.  Now almost everyone mulches as they mow.  I won’t get into the discussion on what purpose a lawn serves.

Same deal with kitchen waste.  Kitchen waste can be very efficiently composted by composting worms with very little effort on the part of the home or apartment dweller.  Neighborhood or apartment wide composting can further reduce individual effort.

There are ways for composting worms to compost meat and grease without spreading pathogens and bad smell (more on that in another post).  As well, meat, dairy, and grease can be easily handled through the bokashi process.

When individuals or small groups start composting green waste and using the end product, the “waste” suddenly becomes a resource.  Small steps like these can help change our throw away society mindset which has created substances that really need dollars and manpower to be properly handled.

We Can Afford to Haul off Green Waste

One of the criticisms of the program is that the program will require yet another bin and another truck route to operate.  There’s no getting around it, hauling off green waste requires dollars.

But of more concern is that hauling off green waste will require more fossil fuels to be burned in the form of trucks.  Unless we want to employ a fleet of bicyclists with trailers or electric vehicles (quite doable in some locales), adding another trash route for green waste is not a sustainable option.

It’s more cost effective and sustainable to provide worm composting and bokashi know how to neighborhoods, apartments, and small groups and let them run with it.

There’s No Limit to the Amount of Sorting a Person is Willing to Do

Here in San Antonio, we don’t sort or recyclables that go into the blue bins.  That’s right, paper, aluminum, plastic, it all goes in one bin.  Why?  Because people don’t want to sort their recyclables.  To this day, my dad still puts glass in the bin, even though it’s not recyclable.

Do you see the problem?  Adding a green waste bin is another sorting challenge.  Granted, the homeowner will have to sort out the green waste in order to compost it with worms. But, being engaged in the process makes that sorting more likely and more relevant to the person doing it.  Once they get the end product, worm compost, there’s no turning back.  The cycle is then complete and the value defined.  It’s not just another up charge on the garbage bill.

Worm composting is not hot composting.  Temperatures above 85 – 90 degrees F are too hot for red wiggler worms to survive.

Composting worms can be added to a compost pile or bin, but add them after the compost has cooled off to near ambient air temperatures.  A good use of composting worms is as compost finishers.  Add them to the pile after it’s cooked down, collapsed, and still needs some time to mature.

The fact that worm composting isn’t hot composting is a good thing, in my opinion.  It’s often hard to get a compost pile to get hot, which makes the composting process take longer.  With worm composting, the worms speed up the composting process by aerating the compost.  As well, they excrete bacteria (which are not thermophilic) that increase the amount of compost activity without creating heat.

Be careful, however, because you could accidentally turn your worm composting bin into a hot bin of worm death.  I did this recently.  I have some aged rabbit manure that I use in a pure manure bin.  I also occasionally add the manure to other bins.  Well, I had a bunch of peat that I really had no use for so I thought I’d start a bin with peat and manure.  Big mistake.  The mix heated up and killed the worms I put in there.  Live and learn.

Generally speaking, kitchen scraps and paper bedding are not going to heat up to dangerous levels.  I have put my hand in a bin and felt that it was warmer than the outside temps.  I’ve never had kitchen scraps heat up to dangerous levels.

Items which could cause your bin to heat up are items which are considered very strong green or nitrogen elements such as manure and grass clippings.

Any manure needs to be pre-composted before adding to bins.  Rabbit manure is the most neutral and needs little processing.  Cow and horse will need some some composting.   Poultry manure is too hot (or green) to add directly to a worm composting system and needs to be thoroughly composted.

Grass clippings are full of nitrogen and they are also very small in size.  Add them to a carbon source such as shredded leaves, straw or the like and you’ve got hot compost.

So keep on with your kitchen scraps and thank the worms for turning the compost for you.

Worm composting is fun.  No doubt about it.  But worm compost combating global climate change?  Sound like a stretch? Read on.

Worm Composting Reduces Methane

Worm composting keeps organic waste out of the landfill.  Okay, that’s cool, we’re saving space in the landfill.

But what’s more is that rotting waste in the landfill produces methane gas.  According to the U.S. EPA, landfills are the 2nd largest producer of methane gas.  Methane is a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than CO2.  Furthermore, methane levels in the atmosphere are 148% higher than they were in 1750.

Decreasing CO2 emissions is critical, but let’s not ignore methane.  Methane gas is removed from the atmosphere in only 10 years, so putting in the effort now will pay off quickly.

Worm composting keeps organic matter out of the landfill where it would decompose in such a way as to produce methane.  Worm composting is an aerobic process and produces no methane.

Worm Composting Sequesters Carbon

Worm composting creates organic matter and organic matter such as compost and humus sequesters carbon.  That is, instead of being released into the atmosphere by rotting or burning, the carbon gets tied up.

Using compost and worm compost on our agricultural land would turn untold acres of  farmland into a giant carbon sink.

Adding worm compost to soils of any kind makes the soil more fertile allowing plants to grow bigger and more plants to grow.  Plants sequester carbon in their biomass, so more plants equals more carbon sequestration.

So, making worm compost sequesters carbon, and then growing things using the compost sequesters carbon, a double whammy.

Worm Composting Strengthens Partnership

Worm composting changes our perspective and strengthens our partnership with the earth.  By employing the lowly worm and directly observing the amazing role it employs in the fertility of the earth we are changed.  We no longer see a banana peel as something that gets thrown in the garbage and trucked off to parts unknown.  It is no longer waste.  It becomes worm food.

After using worm compost in our own gardens and yards we directly observe what fertile, healthy soil is.  We can no longer drive by a plot of abused land, whether it be overgrazed, over tilled, stripped and left barren, and see it as negligible.

We begin to see ourselves as we really are, caretakers of this planet.  Caretakers of the planet wouldn’t allow the delicate balance of the atmosphere to be compromised.  That’s the 3rd way worm composting combats global climate change.

This week I thought I’d list a bunch of tips from you, the Wormilicious community.

• Feed worms restaurant sized, used tea bags.  They love them! – Heather Rinaldi, Texas Worm Ranch
• To separate worm cocoons from worm compost, soak the compost in water and the cocoons will rise to the top.  Then you can strain them out. – Jim Hutchinson, Cape May Organics
• To separate out the tiniest baby worms, place window screen on top of the compost and bait with thinly sliced fruit. – Larry Duke, The Garbage Guru
• To dry out wet compost, place in a cardboard box and leave in a warm area for a while.  The box helps absorb the moisture.  When finished, throw the box back in the bin. – Heather Rinaldi via Jean Kruse, Texas Worm Ranch
• Label your bins with a start date. – Jim Hutchinson, Cape May Organics
• To settle down newly arrived worms, leave the bin, with lid open, in the bathroom with the light on for 2 or 3 days. – Cassandra, Wormilicious

Add your own tips in the comments below.

How do I separate worms from compost?  How do I harvest my worms?  These are very common questions.  A very common answer is to use light harvesting.

What is light harvesting?  Light harvesting uses a worm’s natural aversion to light to help separate them from vermicompost.

I’ve done plenty of light harvesting myself and find it to be a very tedious process.  Part of what makes it tedious is that I raise my worms in plastic bins and the compost tends to be very moist, even wet.  So, unless I set the compost out ahead of time to dry out some, it’s difficult to tease the worms from the compost.

What I’ve been doing these days is passing the compost through a 1/4″ hardware cloth screen first onto some newspaper.  I screen a layer that is only a couple inches thick and then pick the compost off the top.

That’s not to say that worms don’t get caught in the screen on the way through.  They do and I have to pick them off the screen as well.

Someday I will build some type of harvester  that will either rotate or shake and hopefully save me some work!

If you just want to move worms to a new bin, the potato bag method works well.

This video is a really great illustration of the light harvesting method  in an ideal world.  You can really see how the worms move further and further down as the bedding is removed, until all that is left is a giant ball of worms.

His bedding is light and fluffy and not very wet.  Perhaps this is because it passed through the harvester first.

Thanks for the video Sierra Worm Solutions.  It’s a goodie.

harvesting compost worms

Many people think that they can dig up worms from their yard and start composting with them.  While it is true that the ordinary garden worm does enrich the soil, it is not a “composting worm”.

Red wiggler worms, or Eisenia fetida, are the standard composting worm.  These guys live in the top layer of soil where organic matter is rotting.  They eat the bacteria and fungi that are produced by such rotting vegetation.

Red wigglers can eat up to their own body weight in “food” a day.  And, oddly enough, compost produced by worms is richer in nutrients than that produced by bacteria and fungi.

Other worms used for composting include:  European Nightcrawlers (Eisenia hortensis) and Alabama Jumpers (Pheretima hawayanus).  I haven’t utilized these other species, so I can’t give too much information about them.

Red Wigglers need warmer temperatures to survive and thrive.  Since they are surface dwellers, they cannot tolerate freezing.  Unlike nightcrawlers, they do not live in burrows, and cannot protect themselves well from the cold.  Red wigglers do their thing best at temperatures between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Like all earthworms, they like it dark and moist.  It’s amazing how fast these worms will move to get away from light.

It’s probably easiest to keep red wigglers in the house  in a bin, or in the garden and feed them via a tower.  Either way, having an army of red wigglers will produce rich, biologically active compost for your garden, houseplants, or lawn.

You may be wondering, is worm composting for me?  Do I have the materials, the space, the time needed?  Here’s a checklist to consider:

Do you:

• have room for 1 or 2 medium sized rubbermaid plastic bins?
• have room in the kitchen for an extra garbage can?
• have a porch or other protected area that doesn’t freeze?

Are you:

• terrified of worms and other bugs?
• someone who doesn’t like to get your hands dirty?

Do you:

• Have pets?  Dogs, cats, fish?
• Have children?
• Have 10 minutes a week to spare?

Section one is about the space needed for worm composting.  If you answered yes to any of the bullets, then you have the space needed to start worm composting.

Section two is about you.  If you answered yes to any of the bullets, then worm composting may not be for you.

Section three is about you and your time.  If you answered yes to any of the bullets then you can pull off worm composting.  Taking care of worms is not even comparable to taking care of standard pets.  Worms don’t really ask anything of you.  And, if you’re squeamish about bugs, but you have kids that love them, then you could make it work.

Best of luck to you and your composting success!

Is your garden lagging?  Want to get a good jump on growth in the spring?  Do your plants peter out in the late summer?

Adding compost can help all the above gardening problems.  Any compost will do, but vermicompost has some distinct advantages.

Vermicompost is higher in nutrients than the standard compost pile compost which is decomposed by only bacteria and fungi.  Something about the worm adds more nutrients to the compost than standard composting.

Plus, if you have composting worms, you can make the compost yourself.  Or, if you have a large outdoor pile, you can add worms to finish off the compost.

Worm compost is great for starting seedlings.  Worm compost helps fight plant disease by providing good bacteria and other microorganisms.

If you want your garden to really flourish this year, think about starting a worm bin today.

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A worm tower is a feeding site that you set up for red wiggler worms in your garden. Use a large piece of PVC pipe with large holes drilled in the parts that go underground. Cover the top with screen and a rubber band to keep flies out.

Using a worm tower is an awesome way to continuously fertilize via vermicompost.  Red wiggler worms inhabit your garden, you feed them, they fertilize your plants.

For more details on building a worm tower see:

How to Build a Worm Tower at Suite 101

Worm Towers at my organic gardening site

harvesting worm compost

I’ve got a bin about 1/4 full of excellent vermicompost.  I’ve tried harvesting using the light method, and it’s just too labor intensive for me.  I’ve tried moving the compost over and feeding only in 1 corner.  But, there are still worms all over the bin.

This bag method seems to hold the most promise.  I took an ordinary plastic potato bag that holds 5 lbs of potatoes and filled it with worm food.

The bag has lots of holes in it that look like they were made with a hole punch.

I placed 2 of these bags on the surface of the worm compost in the bin.  After 3 days, I removed the bags which were then full of worms, and dumped the contents in the new worm bin.

This picture is not the greatest, but you can see how the worms have congregated under the bag.  What you can’t see is the same congregation in the bag.  Author’s note:  sorry, that image has been lost.

I’m sure it will take several tries to get all the worms into the bags and out of the bin, but it sure beats trying to separate them by hand.

As a side note, since I want to harvest, I’m not adding any more bedding to the bin.  All the food is in the bags.  As a result, it’s getting really wet in there.

In the picture above, you can see shredded paper in the right hand corner.  I cleared the compost from the right hand edge and have been adding paper to that corner only.

I’m also leaving the lid open for a few hours during the day to help air circulate and things dry out.

Reply to this post if you have any methods of compost harvest that work well for you.