[Terrapreta] Composting worms

[MFH]

Jim

 

If you love the potential for charcoal to enhance soil, you've also got to
love compost and worm castings for similar benefits. Industrial-sized worm
farms could reduce landfill by 70% and eliminate traditional sewage
treatment works, while producing rich soil additives. If we're shaking our
collective heads and wondering why we haven't been using char in the soil
for the last 2000 years, we can be equally puzzled by our lack of wide-scale
use of worms. We dump household garbage into massive landfills to degrade
into a slimy methane-emitting sludge.

 

Composting worms normally used in worm farms are Tiger worms (Eisenia
fetida) and Red worms (Lumbricus rubellis). These are native to Europe and
Asia but have colonised all over the world. It is a guess whether this was
deliberate by early settlers or not.  

 

They are different from the indigenous earthworms in that they live in the
top 10cm of the soil and/or in the mulch layer in forests, for example,
whereas earthworms inhabit down to a metre or more. Composting worms also
eat and procreate at far greater rates, e.g. eat their own weight per day
and double populations every 6-8 weeks. The comparison is pushbike to
Ferrari.

 

Composting worms will eat anything organic - vege scraps, coffee grounds,
newspaper, poo, lawn clippings, crushed egg shell, animal waste..and convert
into wonderful rich worm castings for adding to the soil. Along the way the
passage of the waste material through the worms removes pathogens.

 

In simple terms a kilo of worms will consume a kilo of waste and give a kilo
of castings per day. And at the same time they will double in population
every two months. 

 

I've bred up to about 200kg (800,000 worms) but have ready access to cow and
horse manure to feed them. I will keep the breeding up, at least to a level
where I can comfortably access their feed requirements, mainly to get the
castings to improve my soil, but at some stage I'm going to have to think
about selling some off.

 

For general information: http://www.wormdigest.org
<http://www.wormdigest.org/> .  For supply Google "Worm Farms" or "Worm
Composting" - some US sites include: http://www.happydranch.com/worms.html,
http://www.windsweptwormfarm.com <http://www.windsweptwormfarm.com/> .

 

In response to your last questions:

 

a)       just put the "first stage stuff" into a container with bedding
(cocopeat, compost, lawn clippings) and worms and cover with a handful of
more bedding or char, and then cover again with a hessian bag. There's no
second stage. When the worms have consumed the waste it can be used in the
garden. No matter what went in (and I've added dead mice) once the process
is over the material has the crumbly feel and wonderful smell of really
healthy soil

b)       yes, pathogens are removed

 

Max H

 

PS - I sent an earlier email direct to your address which bounced.

 

 

 

 

  _____  

From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Jim Joyner
Sent: Saturday, 17 May 2008 2:00 AM
To: Terra Preta
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] composting toilet

 

Thanks Max. That's super. 

I may go back to the company I got the toilet from, after I doing some more
with it, and see if they will get interested. Hey, if it helped them,
wouldn't they push it?

I do have a question, though. You've mentioned composting worms before. I
just felt too ignorant to ask, But I just don't know what they are and, more
importantly, I haven't a clue where I might find them. Ideas?

I will try that directly in the toilet, but I could just as easily, instead
of putting the first stage stuff into the holding box in the toilet, put the
first stage stuff in a worm box.

Do you know if the "product" from the toilet, after being "worked on" by the
worms, is then any safer in terms of pathogens?

Thanks,

Jim

MFH wrote: 

Jim, lots of.
 
Consulted for a while to a company making on-site domestic sewage systems.
Size for a 5-person house was 1600 litres, about the normal size for a
septic tank. The heart of the system was a media bed made of cocopeat
(www.starfibre.com.au), laced with composting worms. A bit more detailed
than that description but that's essentially the process. 
 
Various other media was trialled, including various ratios of cocopeat and
char, up to 100% char. In general there didn't seem to be any detectable
lowering of performance with char levels up to, say, 50%, but higher than
that caused a drop of worm populations. Char is pretty rough under the
microscope and maybe worms were abraded?
 
I've replicated the process down to 20 litre drum experiments. Its so
blindingly simple that its no wonder it has escaped the minds of the
politicians. If only people would put just poo and wee down their toilets,
instead of sump oil and left-over pharmaceuticals and rat baits, this
worm-based sewage treatment could replace traditional sewage farms, and give
a valuable waste product.
 
The system treats sewage and grey water, and can in fact survive just
treating grey water. Humans shed a couple of kilos of skin per annum, and
this plus hair plus fats from the bath can keep a worm population alive. And
you can route the output from your kitchen sink disposal unit into it.
 
When working properly, the water output tests to the potable level. No state
in Australia allows this (surprise?) but some states allow re-cycling for
toilet flushing and washing machine use. All allow for garden use.
 
The media normally lasts for years without changing. But if the system was
designed as such, processed waste mixed with the cocopeat and some char
could be extracted from the bottom of the stack, and used in the garden.
There won't be nay worms removed because they live in the upper layers.
 
At its simplest:
 
- a 20 litre bucket under a seat
- part fill with cocopeat and some char
- add a couple of 1000 composting worms
- have a container with dry cocopeat and another with some char beside the
seat and a small scoop
- have a poo then add a scoop of char and cocopeat
- when the drum is full, set aside and cover with hessian until the worms
have finished the conversion to castings
- in the meantime, take a scoop full of worms from the upper layer and use
these for the replacement bucket
 
This is different to a composting toilet, but worth a try is:
 
- the addition of char, and
- why not see whet happens by adding worms?
 
M
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Jim Joyner
Sent: Thursday, 15 May 2008 11:55 PM
To: Terra Preta
Subject: [Terrapreta] composting toilet
 
Anyone have any experience with putting charcoal in a composting toilet 
(how much, etc.)? My wife and I use such a toilet. I reason that it 
would break down the material faster, give off less smell and (since I 
use the end product on trees and scrubs) it would sequester CO2.
 
Probably not world shaking . . . unless everyone got a composting 
toilet. . .
 
Jim
 
  

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /attachments/20080517/1d9150b5/attachment.html