Red Worm News: Composting Tip

The classroom worm bin may not yet be standard throughout the country, but the state of California has moved to make it a familiar sight in the office.

The state's Integrated Waste Management Board, part of the Environmental Protection Agency, has posted a list of the top ten ways to recycle on the job, and the second is "Keep worms in your office." So far, very few businesses actually have worm compost bins, and part of the problem may be inadequate information about what to feed them.

As The Red Wriggler Teaching Manual prescribes, a bin-keeper must be careful about what worms are fed, and it is important to have some composting tips. The typical office worker's diet is not the best worm diet, but the employee might reasonably be able to compost the following:

• Bran or fruit muffins from breakfast, but without chocolate or butter cream frosting
• Coffee grinds and even the coffee filter
• Leftover fruits, without Cool Whip or poppy seed dressing
• Salad greens without any fattening dressing
• Sandwich bread, but without butter, mayonnaise, or mustard on it
• Celery and carrots, but no dip

The worms should not be fed things like dairy products of any kind or lunch meats like baloney, turkey, or chicken. Salty or spicy chips would also be out. On the other hand, the worms would happily devour the morning newspaper, which is printed with soy ink.

Insofar as employees become conscious of the dietary needs of the worms and conform to them, they will probably lose weight and enhance their health. As the worms go about their business, they will also be producing castings to fertilize office plants. So "taking worms to work" could ultimately have a three-fold benefit. They could (1) enhance employee health, (2) reduce waste, (3) educate workers about the benefits of composting, and (4) beautify the office plants. Not a bad day's work for the humble worm.