Urban Vermicomposting
What is Urban Vermicomposting?
It is just one type of cold composting, and is one of the most natural ways to compost indoors. Vermicomposting is the process of colonizing decomposition microbes with worms which, in turn, transform your biological waste into a natural soil fertilizer called vermicast.
What is Vermicast Used for?
Vermicast, or “black gold”, is a soil amendment used to reinvigorate and fertilize soil with living, natural microbes (nutrient transmitters) that allows plants to thrive without using chemical or synthetic fertilizers.
Why is it a Thing?
Vermicompost soils are not only more nutritious and a natural way to fertilize your plants, they remove the unnecessary methane1 released from organic matter decomposing in our garbage collections and landfills. It also acts to sequester carbon2 in the air. It makes your plants more pest-resilient too.
How do I know if this is right for my home?
Whether you decide to vermicompost within your own home, or have your compostable trash picked up by a third party (getting popular across the USA - finally!), or bringing your compostable trash to a collection site, composting is a transformative positive environmental action you can take that is effective regardless of whether you do the actual composting yourself.
We will say that it is inviting nature's assistance into your home. Most of us in the general population have grown accustomed to fighting nature in our living spaces, so the idea of bringing it into our homes can be daunting. If that is the case, we suggest not trying it and encourage you to follow our journey.
If, however, you are intrigued, curious and likely a gardener too, this process may inspire you, and that is why we are sharing our experiences with you.
1 Methane (CH4) is the second most important greenhouse gas. CH4 is more potent than CO2 because the radiative forcing produced per molecule is greater. Methane is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Source: epa.gov
2”There’s no question that carbon dioxide is the biggest contributor to human-caused climate change, so that’s the big focus of mitigation efforts.” Source: news.mit.edu
1One recent farming study contained results achieved from amending soil in a drought-prone climate with vermicompost. Abd El-Fattah DA, Hashem FA and Abd-Elrahman SH, 2022. Impact of applying organic fertilizers on nutrient content of soil and lettuce plants, yield quality and benefit-cost ratio under water stress conditions. Asian J. Agric. Biol. 2022(2): 202102086. DOI: https://doi.org/10.35495/ajab.2021.02.086.
What supplies do I need to start?
The Collection Bin
The collection bin lives under the sink in our house. It is where we put our daily trash, feeding our worm bin just once a week. Alternatively, you can freeze your scraps to avoid any chance of fruit flies or gnats.
Feeding the Bin
This one-minute video short is an example of a weekly feeding.
Harvesting
One harvesting technique, that removes nearly all worms from your vermicast or "black gold".
Gross! What's growing in my worm bin??
There can be surprises when you start composting. But, as in everything, diversity is key.
Recommended read
While this book focuses on large scale vermicomposting, I have found that Rhonda Sherman's advice is insightful in understanding the vermicomposting process through different lenses. Aligning vermiculture (raising worms for uses like fish bait) processes with vermicomposting procedures, affords you the well-rounded education on what keeps the worms thriving and what to do so they can work most efficiently for you.
More Resources
NC State Extension │ Worms Recycle Your Garbage: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/worms-can-recycle-your-garbage
GreenBlue │ Urban Access to Composting Programs: https://greenblue.org/work/compostingaccess/
Harvard University │ New Life for Harvard's Compost: https://sustainable.harvard.edu/new-life-for-harvards-compost/