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Vermicomposting

Commerical shredding of cardboard for worm piles

15 years ago

Anyone has experience or info on any lind of commercial cardboard shredder that can shred boxes of rotted veggies that big stores give away. Want to just load the entire box into a shredder a we've got access to hundreds a day to put into our outdoor compost piles. The worms love the box and contents , but we need to shred the box to speed up the worms ability to feed and eat the cardboard.

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Comments (5)

tclynx
15 years ago
Sounds like a heavier piece of equipment than most of us here use. Might want to look into some farm equipment. Perhaps some sort of farm shredder.

Any sort of shredder or mill for shredding cardboard specifically won't do much good for cardboard boxes full of rotting veggies as that would just gum up the works.
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pennymca
15 years ago
Do you have a Publix grocery in your area? If not, you might look up Publix corporate and give them a call. Since they are not allowed to give away old produce in AL they have some sort of shredder (enclosed in what looks like a container body) they feed all of the old stuff to in the back of their stores (outdoors).

Makes me furious.
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RpR, I doubt I would have much success starting a community urination program, since we don't even recycle here. But it does make me wonder if there would be any other alternative amendment that may accelerate the decomposition process. I've been piling some in raised beds and other places as a lasagna garden type of thing, but I do not have enough other materials to top them with. The unsightliness of just laying them on the ground proves not an option on my property. I'd love to get some worms chompping on the stuff; but with this bulk, I doubt I would make much of a dent. If I created a 10'X10' pen and just layered the boxes in that, how long would it take to decompose? Would that attract roaches? I said I collect 3' of cardboard a week, but that is not every single week. Some weeks we get much less than that, but it is a lot and I hate to just keep burning it all. Thank you for everyone's input.
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Harry, yes I have seen it in my homemade bin and It seems to be more of a stress reaction to an improper balance in the bin. My bokashi is my own saved scraps. After I run this thru my juicer if its on the dry side I add the juice back in so its more of a slurry. Then that mix is saved in a container that will hold 1 to 2 gal. Sometimes I have too much and also use large empty coffee cans with lid. Store this stuff so fruit flies cant get to it . When you do feed it may have a mold covering on top dont worry about that , its fine. Worms will love it. Getting the bedding right in the first place is the key. The relation between bedding, pure food , and worms is important. Bokashi mix is all green/nitrogen with a little shredded paper is most likely not enough. Depending on what you use for your bedding doesnt always have to be the same, whether its peat, coco coir aged compost , shredded paper , cardboard. Im going to say that should be at least 80-85% of your bedding , then add a little bokashi mix in a corner . The bedding should be moist but not wet, then I cover this with several sheets of newprint dampened. Check on the food you added in a day or two and see if worms have moved to the food, if the visible food is gone you can add more in another area of the bin. After adding this food slurry , checking the next day sometimes I will see the bacteria in the food a it seems to moving. This means it is ready for the worms. The bacteria has to be breaking it down before they eat it and that is why it is better , that is, if you want it quicker . This doesnt have to be done this way , some people just chop it up and put it in in this way , just takes longer, hope my rambling has helped.
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laketreefarm
Original Author
15 years ago
We looked at a similar container sized system and the price $85,000 knocked us over. We're looking for solutions that the typical small farmer/vermi-composter can afford or adapt for shredding use. Bigger than a yard compost shredder but smaller than a industrial use. I'm thinking silage choppers, wood chippers, etc.. sized units that may be retasked and are commonly available used or new for under $15,000.
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pennymca
15 years ago
Well, that makes me even more furious that they are wasting 85K to shred stuff to go to the landfill...and the landfill here doesn't do anything but bury their good stuff.
Harummph
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laketreefarm
Original Author
15 years ago
Yea it's totally stupid to throw good food away, and even worse throw good compostable food and cardboard to the dump when it could be the food for worms which supplies the castings to fertilize food for people. Will Allen, founder of Growing Power uses just such a method to make compost with worms, that he feeds to fish that he grows in Greenhouses with plants fish and worms in an integrated growing system in downtown Milwaukee and Chicago. He produces tons and tons of food with urban trash, worms and hard work. Know anybody at Publix I can talk to to enlighten them? Ren

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Power Vermicomposting
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