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Vermicomposting

Can there be too much food waste!

13 years ago

I just arrived on site for a permaculture project at a girls school in Nanyuki, Kenya. Everyday there is a 50 gal foodbin (more sometimes) filled with food scraps, (potato, carrot peels, cabbage cores etc.) I think it would be ideal for vermicompost but want to have an idea of what size bin to work with. I think a flow through design is necessary because there is more foodscrap being added everyday. With the fresh stuff being added everyday is there a worry for moisture loss? I will need to add paper or cardboard as well I know. Please give me an idead of what size of bin and any other factors I may be overlooking. Thank you very much

-Sean

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Comments (4)

PRO
equinoxequinox
13 years ago
Kenya? or vermicomposer Heaven? 50 gallons wow!

Summer camps here frequently have the children only take the food they will eat. Each table has a daily contest to see which generates the least waste by weight. That might cut way down on the waste.

Or is this kitchen waste before it is put on peoples plates?

Before worms, rabbits, chickens and pigs might benefit.

You are not going to be able to start out handling 50 gallons a day. It will take a while. I would think a 100 square foot bin would be required. That might be 3 or 4 inches of waste per day. You might want a regular compost system and just feed the worms the choisest parts for a while. Strawberry tops and mellon.
alabamanicole
13 years ago
I say start small with an educational bin and control the amount of food going in. As the girls learn what can and cannot go in worm bins, you can start putting bins right by the trash cans and have them separate their trash. Processing it all would be practically a worm farm -- which might be a worthwhile venture to raise money for the school?

I agree with EE that the scraps probably have a higher use feeding a pig or three, and then feed the pig manure to worms. (Provided, of course, this isn't an area with a lot of Muslims.)

Other options are a traditional compost pile and having them collected by a nearby farmer to supplement his livestock's diets. This could be temporary while the worms get going or an ongoing solution.
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Dee, I too work at a library and started by "comandeering" banana and orange peels. Since I'm only in a couple of times a week, I asked if I could leave a 5-gal bucket in the breakroom. I pointed out that my bucket has a lid and our breakroom garbage does not, promised to switch it for an empty one atleast once a week, and would gladly accept plant materials from our houseplants and the floral arrangements a Friend of the Library freshens up regularly. I now have 2 co-workers who take buckets home with them and return when full plus the breakroom bucket. Slowly but surely! We have an old 10-gal aquarium that was donated eons ago for a summer kids project and I'm currently trying to figure a way to use it as a worm bin. I've never vermicomposted (yet), but I think it would be neat to have one in glass so the kids could sort of "watch the process". We get a lot of field trips during the school year and I'd like to make the most of their time at the library. If it's successful it could perhaps lead to worm bins in the classroom too :) Like Tox said: " As long as they get into a bin somewhere, consider it a success."
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For me I don't call being frugal " cheap", penny-pinching, miserly, stingy--------------. As a matter of fact, I donÃ¢ÂÂt even call it frugal. I call it value conscious. Greenish bananas is $0.79 a lb, but yellow bananas with very few black spots are marked down at $0.39 a lb, and as you know, yellow bananas with a few spots are at the best ripeness for eating. I was going to make pork chops, after having read ChaseÃ¢ÂÂs pork chop thread. But pork chops are $4.99 a lb and pork shoulder is $0.99 a lb. Sous vide pork shoulder is more flavorful and more tender than pork chops. I was going to make prime ribs, after having read Ann_tÃ¢ÂÂs dinner, then this week London Boil (boneless) is $0.99 a lb. I think Prime rib is $17.00 a lb? Sous vide London Boil is just as tender and may be beefier. I enjoy giving leftovers the Cinderella transformation, and free-range organic Ã¢ÂÂweedsÃ¢ÂÂ on the front lawn the gourmet promotion. Over the years, several thousand gallons later, there has never been one oz of kitchen scrap not composed. That includes meat, bones and fat, something normally people cannot compost. My simple tools for composting everything: A garden shredder to pulverize large bones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUn3SCoCFFc A simple home-made convertable small rototiller to bury kitchen scraps 36Ã¢ÂÂ deep. The video shows the tool is digging into earth which was still frozen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i9LSzb-U0g dcarch
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PRO
equinoxequinox
13 years ago
Hermetia illucens, the black soldier fly (BSF)can help too.

It can get that 50 gallons of waste down to 3 gallons of stuff the worms should love. And the local chickens will love you. Trade for eggs.
mendopete
13 years ago
I agree with Eq, BSF / worms /chicken combo would be a great permaculture project!!! You would need over 100lbs of worms and a LARGE system to handle 50lbs+ daily, without BSF larvae or pre-composting first. I started with about 2 lbs of worms 13 months ago, and by contantly expanding my wormery into new compost piles, I currently estimate my herd at 50 lbs.. There is too much food waste (any is too much), but composting solves this problem. Good Luck! Pete

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