Vermicomposting

Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng’s disastrous aftermath, prompted me to seriously think about the effects our trash has on the environment. In the old days, floods were few and far in between. But with the invention of plastic bags, I hear and see floods happening all over the world, not just in the Philippines. Like a coronary blockage, the build up caused an attack and now the recovery process is slow and painful.

I believe Solid Waste Management is the key. Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. This should be our mantra and home is where we should start. I heard about Prof. Marlon Era, of DLSU’s Behavioral Science Dept., who studied Solid Waste Management on Morning’s at ANC TV show. He discussed waste segregation, waste reduction and recycling. He showed how easy it is to start at home. He got some plastic bins (recycled of course), and labelled them - Paper - Tins/Plastics - Bottles - Food Waste - Residuals (walang pakinabang). Then he asked the cooperation of all the members of the family to help out. After a couple of days or weeks, he would sell the papers, tins and bottles which provided them extra money for extra treats. Food wastes and kitchen scraps he composted and what’s left were the residuals that was so much less than before. Imagine if every household does this, less trash would be thrown into the environment.

Then I remembered Vermicomposting, which I first saw during the heydays of the weekend markets in Makati. These worms, called Red Wrigglers, eat kitchen scraps, digest them and poops them out as organic fertilizer. I call them Miracle Workers.

I’m not really fond of wriggly, slimy things but when I decided to start composting at home, I thought of vermicomposting. I read, on the internet, that they’re easy to manage and they don’t smell compared to regular composting. In fact, they should smell earthy.

I bought my very first tray of Red Wrigglers from Earthworm Sanctuary, at the Agri-Link Expo, for 100 pesos. I should have approximately 50 Red Wrigglers, according to the sales lady, to start as an experiment. It came in a small plastic microwaveable tray with holes on top. Since I wanted to propagate them, I decided to transfer them to a bigger tray that measured 8x8 with holes all over for ventilation with damp hand-torn newspaper, sprinkled with used coffee grounds as bedding.

Day 1 - I fed them chopped banana peel and that was a mistake. Ants came crawling all over the colony tray in less than a day. I quickly came up with a makeshift stilt by placing the colony tray on top of the tray they came in with which I inverted over a water filled tray creating a moat like structure. No more ants attacked, but the existing ones in the tray stayed. Lesson #1 - Do not feed fruits unless the area’s ants-free. Vegetable peels better.

Day 3 - I decided to transplant my colony, again, to their new home sans ants. Red Wrigglers are night creatures and they prefer to burrow. I discovered, while migrating them, that damp hand-torn newspaper compacted compared to shredded newspaper which formed spaces. I found my Reds (which they will be known hence forth) clustered in the middle of the tray. I successfully migrated my Reds and counted approximately 30 wriggly worms with 2 dead. Lesson #2 - Shredded newspaper’s better than hand torn newspaper as bedding. Provides better aeration and space for Reds to burrow.

Day 6 - My family treat my Reds as my pets. They’ve learned to set aside food waste, minus bones and fats, for my Reds to feed on. I’ve been eating more vegetables now because I’m thinking my vegetable peels will be my Reds next meal. Lesson #3 - Get the family involved. Lesson #4 - Consider vegetarianism. It’s healthier too.

Maybe, my Reds are one of the solution to our environmental problems. Our country needs to address our trash problem as early as now before another Ondoy or Pepeng unleashed their fury.

Tips, comments and suggestions most welcome.

Earthworm Sanctuary

La Mesa Ecopark

Fairview, QC

Tel: 931 2617

Mobile: 0922 8961996