Meet Nature's Recycling Superheroes

When I lived in Pennsylvania, the county and solid waste authority offered a class on composting. My wife Julie and I had just started our first garden, so we jumped at the chance to learn more. By taking the class, we even got a free outdoor compost bin: win-win!?

The class was just two hours a week for three weeks. About thirty of us gathered in a classroom at a local middle school to learn what to put in our compost, how to turn it and care for it (keeping it at the right temperature is key), and the amazing impact that composting can have on the environment by diverting waste from landfills. But during our very last class, something a little strange happened.?

Just as our instructor was getting ready to hand out our Master Composting certificates, she dropped a bomb:?

?“I don’t own a compost bin,” she said.?

?We all looked around at each other, chuckling nervously.?

?“I don’t need one,” she explained. “I don’t have a lot of leaves or lawn clippings in my yard, and for my food waste, I use a worm bin.”?

A worm bin?! I’d just become a Master Composter, and yet somehow I had never heard of a worm bin or vermicomposting before.?

I was lucky enough to get a crash course from my teacher that day, but I know worm bins are still a mystery to most people—and that’s too bad. They're an amazing way to handle food waste, especially if you don’t have the time or space for a traditional compost bin at work or home. A traditional compost pile needs to be turned and watered, but worm bins are pretty self-sufficient in the right conditions.?

When you add your food scraps to a worm bin, the worms consume the organic material and turn it into vermicompost (or the less scientific-sounding “worm poop”) which is a nutrient-rich natural fertilizer. According to StopWaste, a public agency in Alameda County, California, “A pound of red worms can eat sixty-five pounds of food scraps in less than three months.”?

Julie and I stuck with our free compost bin back in Philadelphia, and now that we live in San Francisco, we’re lucky enough to participate in the city’s municipal composting program. But if that program didn’t exist, I would definitely get a worm bin. The worms’ ability to convert waste into something that helps plants grow seems like an example of Mother Nature at her finest. Plus, worm bins are great for offices and small homes like ours. For more information about workplace composting options (including worm bins), check out our blog.?

This week as we celebrate Earth Day, I’d like to give a nod of appreciation to the little earthworms. They’re working hard all across the globe to help make our world a greener place.

—Erin Mittelstaedt

CEO, The FruitGuys