Boulder Vermicomposting

Vermicomposting and vermiculture around the world

November 25th, 2009

I get email every time Google finds a post using the words ‘redworms’ or ‘vermiculture’.  (You can set up the same thing with Google Alerts.)  I have been letting these accumulate in my inbox, but there are a number of interesting articles showing the wide-ranging nature of vermicomposting, so I thought I’d compile and publish them.

Grand Rapids, Michigan sent a beekeeper to Nicaragua; there he learned vermiculture and now has “a compost pile with thousands of red worms.” In Detroit, Justin Pawloske “[collects] food from two area grocery stores that otherwise would have found its way into a landfill, and [composts] it with the use of worms”.

In Wisconsin, Will Allen of Growing Power uses worms in his composting systems on his urban farms because “[t]he worm castings make great fertilizer.”

A number of schools are doing vermicomposting.  In Utah, West Point grade school is “using Red Wigglers to compost cafeteria scraps”.  In Ontario,  Scott Young Public School is also vermicomposting their cafeteria waste.  In Kansas, Starside Elementary has set up vermicomposting systems, where “red worms eat food scraps, newspapers, and even junk mail.” In Ithaca, Caroline Elementary school’s fourth grade class is vermicomposting.

In Pennsylvania, the Haverford House, a part of Haverford College, is vermicomposting.

In the developing world,  Spier Hotel, in Zambia, has a “waste-plus-worms-equals-compost vermiculture programme” as well as other sustainability initiatives.  They are using Biolytix [PDF], an Australian sewage technology.

In India, villages are setting up backyard vermicomposting and selling vermicompost.

In Guatemala, a non profit considered using vermiculture as a profitable rural enterprise.

In South Africa, vermiculture is part of an “agricultural job-creation project.”

In the Philipines, residents who have been resettled near Bayanijuan plan to “start a vermiculture project.” There’s also a facebook page about a vermiculture project in that country.

In Minnesota, Mark Campbell, a resident of Edina,  “tosses his kitchen waste in his vermiculture bin in the basement and uses the “tea” and castings to fertilizer his garden.” He also “ripped up most of the grass in his yard because he considers grass a waste of precious resources”.  You can view a video of Mark here, though it focuses on fruit trees and apple crisp.

In Massachusetts, residents of cities with ‘pay as you throw’ garbage collection use vermicompost to save money and process their food scraps.

The Wall Street Journal reviews various composting options, including the Worm Factory, a vermicomposting bin.

In Maine, Redworms for a Green Earth exhibited at the Green Home and Living Show.  Redworms were also featured at the Christ Episcopal Church‘s ‘Blessing of the Animals’ in Ponte Vedra, Florida.  In California, a real estate blogger covers why vermicomposting is important for green real estate.

And, because this is a blog about worms in Colorado, here’s another great article about John Anderson and his company Garbage Busters.

I also got a lot of fishing reports–apparently redworms really are popular with fishermen!

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