Composting with red worms

Many urban residents who are keen on reducing their impact on environment are turning to worm composting in order to reduce the amount of garbage they produce, replace chemical fertilizers on their plants hence reducing the consumption of chemical fertilizers which are based on petroleum products and produced using energy intensive methods.

One of the responsibilities of an environmentally conscious urban dweller is to look for ways to limit his impact on the environment. We all know about recycling, water and power conservation...all the usual suspects about our carbon footprint. However we seldom think about the organic part of our garbage. Dinner left overs, vegetable scraps, shredded paper, egg cartons...in fact about one half of our garbage in weight is organic. And once we separate glass, plastic, and paper we are usually content with sending our organic waste to landfills.

What happens to the garbage in landfills? If you are lucky it ends up in a dumpster that processes garbage and produce methane. But these facilities are rare and many towns are not wealthy or pioneer enough to install these operations. In all likelihood your garbage end up in a landfill rotting slowly, producing methane and other gaseous byproducts  of decomposition. In effect we continue to contribute to global warming even long after we dump our garbage.

Some landfills store garbage in very large piles in watertight pits and cover them with dirt. Cut off from oxygen rotting and composting comes to a halt. Methane builds up and eventually escapes to the atmosphere. In some backward places on earth these garbage pits are known to explode due to methane build up. In fact such gas explosions happened in the Britain in the past.

By turning to vermicomposting or worm composting we can reduce our organic waste output almost to zero. Red wigglers are ferocious eaters. They consume up to their body weight every day and the compost they produce is the best fertilizer you can obtain from any source. A middle sized worm bin can fit in even the smaller apartments. A square foot of space in your kitchen, or bathroom is more than enough. Red wigglers are well behaved worms. They do not burrow or wander around. If a worm bin is kept under good conditions worms will stay out of sight eating your organic waste. If you want to learn more about composting with worms you can check these books out.

But before you spend any money on books bout worms and worm composting I suggest you visit a few more websites to learn about worm composting for free. I am sure that you will come around and consider becoming a worm farmer yourself. It is easy, it is green, and it is going to be great your potted plants in your window side. So try these articles first:

What is worm composting?
Some worm composting facts
Worm composting frequently asked questions
Worm composting videos
Many benefits of vermicomposting

And when you are ready to buy a worm bin check these options.