Worms the new workers as companies strive to cut waste (audio)

New Zealand companies are turning to worms to reduce waste, says a supplier of commercial worm farms.

Owner of Organic Wastes Solutions Colin McPike says there has been an increase in interest in worm farms by businesses.

Environmental companies are already using them and there has been interest from major hotels but less so from restaurant chains, he says.

The Ministry for the Environment is consulting on a waste strategy for the Waste Minimisation Act 2008. This includes a potential levy on waste.

“Waste costs may go up and hopefully this will incentivise businesses to look seriously at their waste,” says McPike.

“In the future there may be pressure in terms of organics being levied if they go into landfill,” he says.

Two-thirds of rubbish can be composted or used as worm food, says owner of Kiwi Earthworms Distributers Patricia Naidu.

“Basically anything that was once living can be given to the worms including dust, cardboard, natural fibres from clothes, tea bags, newspapers and food scraps. This leaves only plastics and glass for landfill,” she says.

Tiger worms are compost worms that live on the surface and digest leaves and other compost.

Tiger worms break down organic matter and turn it into rich fertiliser called worm castings. The seepage from the worm farm, or worm “tea”, is also a fertiliser.

“This contains all nutrients necessary for plants,” says Naidu.

Councils were early adopters of worm farms. Virtually every greater Auckland council has a worm farm for their food wastes, he says.

The council worm farms are 1m by 2m and can take 15kg to 20kg of waste including food, lunch paper and serviettes.

Council worm farms start with 25,000 composting worms. After nine to 12 months they increase to 70,000 worms. They will self-regulate according to the size of the worm farm, he says.

At the smaller end of the scale, Newmarket resident Amanda Kennedy has been operating a worm farm for about four months.

“We put in all the sweepings and the hair from our hairbrushes and apparently you can put in latex condoms, but we haven’t done that,” she says.

“They’ve done a pretty brilliant job of eating everything we’ve given to them,” she says. “They just do their thing. There’s no smell.

“Yesterday I got seven wine bottles full of worm tea. You stick it in your herbs. You water it down. Dilute it about one to 10. It’s a pretty fantastic fertiliser,” says Kennedy.

Listen to the interview with Amanda Kennedy here.