* Disclaimer: I may sound preachy in this post and I promise I’m not trying to be. I just want to convey my thoughts and my experience for my own life. I’m a firm believer in doing what YOU can do in your own life and I know that my cause and love of the environment doesn’t necessarily have to be yours. I ALSO know that I’m not changing the world and this is just a little tiny minor step. But. It’s a step. *
I reached the last straw a few weeks ago when I went to throw something away and saw that 90% of what was in the garbage was produce and food scraps. Right next to our tiny garbage can was a heaping giant bucket full of recyclables and for a while that was my justification. I mean, we live in a 4th floor loft, right? We’re already recycling at least 80% of what we buy. We generally have one small shopping bag-sized garbage bag per week. We try to avoid plastic, we buy with the least amount of packaging possible, we strive for local+organic+natural+just mindful. Surely that was enough and these food scraps could just make their way to the landfill guilt-free, right? They’re FOOD SCRAPS. It’s fine. They’ll just decompose chillin’ in the landfill and everything will be gravy.
Well, I know that’s not true. I know that food that ends up in a landfill decomposes differently because landfills accumulate so much stuff that the food ends up buried, without air. When it decomposes without air it releases methane and other biogasses that trap heat and are far more of a problem than carbon dioxide. Guilt-free just went out the window.
The other part that made it hard for me to justify my… let’s be honest, laziness, is that when I lived with Jay + Jen they had a worm compost that they kept right in the kitchen, so I KNEW how easy it was and how it wasn’t a bug-infested mess like it kind of sounded like it could be. I’m being 100% honest when I say that I didn’t even know if was there until Jen showed me and it didn’t smell at all.
So, I called myself out on my own complacency, ordered some worms, and they just arrived today! This is my first time, so if anyone out there has any tips, or if you’re thinking of starting one, definitely share your story in the comments and link to your website if you have one. I’d love to read about more people that are doing this, especially urban + apartment dwellers. I think it’s easy for us to just say we don’t have the space or the ability, but we know it’s possible no matter where you are.
Here’s how we started our worm compost!
We ordered some red wiggler worms about a week ago from WormLady.com out of Chehalis, WA.
They showed up today in a little “worm kit” with some bedding and castings. We ordered 1 pound for $29 (shipping included), and from what I’ve read it sounds like 1 pound of worms will eat 1/2 a pound of food a day.
I bought 2 plastic bins from Target for less than $10. They stack inside each other and the top one has holes in the bottom for drainage and ventilation. The top has air vents, too. (In a lovely little design via Scott.
) I brought them home and realized that I probably shouldn’t have gotten clear ones, but oh well. I lined the bottom one with newspaper so hopefully it’s dark enough for them, otherwise I’ll figure something else out.
We added the bedding which was just a mix of ripped up newspaper, some potting soil that I had laying around, and some clipping from our tomato plants (that are on our roof. Shhhh.)
I’ve been saving food scraps in containers in the freezer, so I grabbed some of those first. Just some egg shells and cauliflower. After I added the food scraps I covered it with the bedding again.
Then, the worms!
The ONLY thing I’m worried about with this is attracting fruit flies, so I covered the entire thing with wet newspaper (thanks, Weekly Volcano!), which is suppose to help.
And that’s that! I’m excited to see how this all works, reduce our garbage, and have compost for potting vegetables. I’m going to post updates and try to document this little journey. The good & the bad. Like I said before, I’d love to hear your stories of urban composting, or really any ideas you have for apartment dwellers trying to live an eco-conscious life.
YOU RULE Sara!!! 
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