Why Vermiculture?

When you talk about vermiculture, most people have the creeps. Well, since we were children, worms are seen as a disgusting little creature that carries a lot of diseases or stings you when you try to touch it. Maybe is just that whoever told us about worms didn’t told us that some of them are pretty good guys.

Having a vermiculture system is easy and very cheap but, why would you do it? Well, taking care of your planet is a good reason. Land fills, one of the few ways we still have to get rid of garbage, are almost completely full. And that’s not the only problem. Although there are a lot of chemicals and toxic waste that contribute to destroy this place, organic garbage, when piled up in one place, can be as damaging as those.

Think about it. Plastic cups, cans and those things occupy space mostly. Most are recyclable. Organic waste, on the other hand, stays decomposing, creating harmful fumes, rising temperature, contaminating underground water courses and attracting thousands of critters that will pass you nice diseases. A lot of these problems can be solved using vermiculture.

Worms eat everything that was once alive, so they can process anything organic you dispose. Yes, that too. Well, human “manure” is not exactly the best material to make usable humus or vermicompost. Although it is supposed to have the same properties of other types of humus, it is likely to carry patogens and parasites that can cause serious health hazards. That is why this kind of humus is only used to fertilize lawns, golf courses and any other plants that will not be used for human consumption.

But you don’t need to use your manure. In a good day, at least 20% of the food you cook is wasted. Just take a look at the garbage can. Although many people are wasteful for the heck of it, a lot of that waste is really something that you are not going to eat anyway, like peelings, stems, pizza leftovers and things like that.

Anyway, if you do vermiculture, you are not only helping your community, you are also saving money and getting the best fertilizer you will be able to get. Fair deal for your garbage, isn’t it?


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