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Earthworms Show The Way To Control Waste

MATTOON, IL (AP) - Jeff Nichols doesn’t mind sharing his office space with a few hundred worms.

The worms, housed in a dark tub with a secure lid, silently consume food waste while Nichols, manager of custodial services at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, researches ways for the hospital to continually help the environment through recycling.

After a food waste audit was performed at SBLHC, Nichols said hospital staff wanted to find an efficient way to decrease the amount of food waste they disposed in landfills. Nichols learned one option was recycling the food waste by feeding it to worms, a practice known as vermicomposting.

Officials at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity report organic waste, not including paper, makes up 11 to13 percent of all material found in landfills and is one of the biggest problems facing the solid waste industry today.

SBLHC is still in the opening phases of researching the benefits of vermicomposting, but after six month, Nichols is pleased with the worms’ recycling abilities.

“One pound of worms will eat half a pound of food waste each day,” Nichols said.

Worms are very efficient at recycling, he said. The worms eat the food waste and if a worm dies, the other worms consume it, Nichols said.

The castings from the worms provide rich nutrient soil builder used for plants and trees.

To harvest the castings, Nichols moves the worms’ food to the opposite side of the tub from where he wants to harvest the castings. The worms move to the food,, allowing the castings to be harvested, he said.

Red Wiggler worms can live 2 to 4 years and mature at 10 weeks. They can begin reproducing at that time.

Although Nichols is supportive of the project, he admits when he first heard of vermicomposting he was skeptical. “I thought it was funny,” Nichols said. “But I learned how good it was for the environment and that it works.

If SBLHC officials decide to expand the vermicomposting project, the worms would be moved to a building near the hospital. Currently the worms are safely secured in a bin in Nichols’ ground floor office.

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