Vermicomposting
A year ago we thought composting wasn’t an option at all for us because we live in a loft with no patio or outdoor space of our own. Also...the thought of having worms and bugs in the house freaked us out a little bit. ‘Won’t it attract more bugs?’ ‘Aren’t worms gross?’ ‘Doesn’t it smell?’’ We thought we were doing “enough” for the planet by simply eliminating most single use plastics from our home and eating a plant-based diet. But “enough” won’t cut it when it comes to helping the planet and reducing our personal contributions towards climate change.
Today we have not one, but two large vermicomposting bins inside our apartment. It is so interesting how just a little bit of knowledge can change your entire perspective. (By the way, to answer the questions we had above - no, if you compost correctly it won’t attract bugs and no, worms aren’t gross at all. They are actually kind of cute. And it also does not smell!)
Doesn’t food waste break down naturally if you throw it away? Nope. It sits in the heaping pile at the landfill buried under all the other stuff we threw away with no light or oxygen, unable to breakdown properly. While it is there it slowly rots and releases methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, contributing to climate change. Ugh. Why don’t they teach this in school? Maybe they do now, but they never taught us!
Did you know that the average person wastes about one pound of food per day? For the two of us, that would be about 730 pounds of food waste a year! How is that possible?! Well, think back to the “bad” parts of fruits and vegetables that you cut off and throw away while cooking. Those could be composted. That lettuce you bought that you forgot about and is now brown and wilted? Totally can be composted. Also, to name a few more things - the stems and ends of vegetables, the vines of tomatoes, ugly parts of produce you cut off, old coffee grounds, egg shells, and so much more can all be composted. Wasted food most people think of as disgusting garbage is actually an extremely valuable resource, creating fertile soil you can use in your garden or for your houseplants. Honestly, the few times that vegetables or fruits start to go bad in our fridge, it never feels like we are throwing money away like it did before. It feels like we are feeding our pet worms some extra treats!
One of the major benefits of composing is for the most part, your trash doesn’t smell! We also barely have to take the trash out because we make so much less than before.
Not too keen on worms? You have other options! Check if you have a local pickup service like in RVA we have @rvacompost. Another option is bringing it to your local farmer’s market and seeing if any of the farmers want it for their farm’s compost pile. Most likely someone will take it. Community gardens usually have a bin for compost too! Or ask a friend that composts if they would be willing to take yours. We have happily taken friends’ eggshells and coffee grounds to add to our compost.
Compost, it helps the most!
How do you compost? Would you be interested in a future post about setting up a vermicomposting bin?
