How many pounds of trash do you think you produce every single week? What if I told you, that you could very easily in less than a month reduce that number by half? Sounds impossible, doesn’t it?
Well, I have four words for you reduce, reuse, recycle, and worms. I know it sounds silly but that’s all you really have to do to cut your trash production by at least half and probably more. I know because I’ve done it, and I’ve been doing it for years now.
I really wasn’t joking with those four words. If you do those things you’ll be trash free and environmentally green in no time at all!
But since I really haven’t explained let me go on further,
Recycle – What I mean by this is, take advantage of your cities recycling facilities! Use the green bin if your city provides it, chances are the majority of your trash is really recyclable (or even better compostable!). This helps your local environment immensely, and saves you space in your personal trash can, not just your local dumps!
Reuse – Much better than the previously mentioned though, is actually reusing items yourself! Reuse your water bottles, your disposable cups, or even your straws, every bit makes a difference, you may not think so but doing small stuff like that really does help, and really does make an impact.
Worm it up – Worms can eat 100 percent of their body weight IN A DAY! That is a LOT of waste GONE, that means when you have 10 pounds of worms, 10 pounds of your literal waste is gone a day, so start a worm bin, Ill continue this further down.
Now for in my opinion the most important out of all of the terms I mentioned,
Reduce – America is one of the worst countries in doing this. We produce TONS of trash (literally) and most of it is either biodegradable, recyclable, or even reusable. If you (and everyone else) just cut down and did these four simple things, I could very easily see a negative trash output for the US, and that would be great.
Getting started, and how to farm red wigglers –
A worm bin is just a method of worm farming, and it’s extremely easy here is a guide on how to get started, and some tips.
All you need to start is a bin, it can be small or big (Just remember a smaller size will limit your max colony size), some bedding, some worms, and I would really choose the smallest option of worms available because it really doesn’t matter long term, your worms will multiply before you know it, and finally, moisture. Without water, your worms will never thrive as they should.
Red wigglers have very few bedding restrictions, but I’ve learned that the fastest and best bedding to use is bedding made of micro shredded paper. In other words paper bedding.
Really their only exterior need other than food is water. Make sure to get their bedding wet before adding them to the container for the first time, and make sure they always are moist but not soaking. You should be able to take a handful and squeeze it and feel the wetness but not have it drip.
Worms are very forgiving, really the only thing that you will have to keep an eye on is temperature, I think this is CRITICAL for a good, healthy colony. They do best in temperatures between 55 – 75 Degrees Fahrenheit, but they can survive 40 – 80 degrees (and I’ve seen them survive even WORSE). In my opinion, if you want a colony to thrive and not just survive then this is one of the most critical things to worry about, if it’s too hot or too cold outside your worms won’t be as happy, but there is an easy solution.
Bring them inside – Indoor worming farms do in my opinion the BEST, they eat at their fastest pace, and seem the healthiest in my opinion. They produce zero odors if properly cared for, and do not require very much attention. There are few if any downsides to doing this, so start as soon as you can!
So what are you waiting for go start that worm bin! It’ll be good for the environment, reduce your waste, reduce the wasted space in your local dump, reduce the trash in your personal trash can, and provide you with literal FERTILIZER every single day!
Worming continued –
The best way to make use of your new worm bin is to use their Castings (castings is another term for worm poop), and their Worm Tea (another term for the water they produce), the results you see will amaze you!
They sound gross but when you use them on your garden, chances are you will see your vegetables get visibly bigger and healthier, but be careful because too much of anything can be a bad thing, you never want to pour these on your plants directly especially in a pot always be sure to dilute it with soil, compost, and water, really you just want to be sure pure worm liquid/castings does not touch any of the plant’s bare leaves or roots.
Worm Tea, and worm castings when used properly will greatly benefit your garden and your plants will love it! Just be sure to be careful as too much of a good thing is a bad thing as always, and can harm your plants if overused.
You can also use them to improve or recover your yard’s soil naturally, just empty half of your colony (after it’s had time to grow of course) into the yard, and in a few months no matter where you dig, you’ll be hitting worms!
There are so many ways to help the environment but personally, I love worms, but anything you do is helping. I hope this article helped clear some things up or gave you some ideas, but if you have any questions, want to start a conversation, or say hello leave a comment below.
