107 Nott Terrace, Suite 301

Schenectady, NY 12308
Phone: (518) 372-1622; Fax: (518) 372-8703
www.cceschenectady.org

Composting with Worms

What you need to raise worms:

1. First you need a worm bin, where worms can live and work. You can easily make a covered bin from wood, or
adapt other containers. Bedding in the bin provides a place for worms to burrow and a place for you to bury
garbage, and is the worm’s initial food source. Bedding can be shredded paper bags or black-and-white
newspaper, peat moss; or decaying leaves.
2. Next you need garbage. Feed your worms vegetable and fruit waste, bread scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, and
tea bags. Children can feed their lunch scraps to the worms or bring in coffee grounds and eggshells from home.
Do not feed your worms meat scraps, fat, and bones, since they attract pests. Do not add pet waste; it may carry
diseases. Worms cannot easily digest greasy or salty foods, and they do not eat metal, plastic, rubber, or glass.
3. Finally, you need the worms -- but not just any worms! The earthworms you find in your garden recycle organic
waste, too, but they prefer to live in cool soil outdoors. Worms from fishing supply stores may not survive well in
a bin. The best worms to raise are redworms. Even when confined in a small bin, redworms thrive in warm
decaying organic matter ... and reproduce quickly. For only $10-$20, you can stock your worm bin with
redworms from commercial worm growers.

Your worm bin should not have odor and pest problems, since the bin is covered; no meat or fats are added; and the
garbage is buried in bedding. The worms stay inside the bin where they have food to eat.

The Redworm Garbage Recycling System:

Supplies: 2 pounds of redworms, or approximately 2000 worms

24” x 42” x 16” worm bin
9-10 pounds of dry bedding
3-4 gallons water
3’ x 4’ sheet of plastic (use a garbage bag)
small garden fork or trowel

This system will recycle up to 7 pounds of food waste per week. If you want to recycle smaller amounts of garbage,
reduce the bin size, amount of bedding and water, and amount of worms. One cycle of the redworm recycling system,
from initially adding the worms to the bin through harvesting the compost, takes about 4 months. In a school class-
room, the system could be started in September and compost harvested in December, or started in January and com-
post harvested in April.
1. Find a good location for your worm bin. Choose a place away from radiators and out of direct sunlight. The best
temperature range is 55°-77°F. A working worm bin can be left unattended for as long as 2 weeks, within this
temperature range.
2. Place the bedding in a bucket, and add enough water to dampen it. Bedding should be moist but not soggy.
3. Place the bedding in the worm bin then add the worms. Leave the lid off for an hour. The worms will work down
into the bedding, away from the light.
4. Add garbage: dig a hole in the bedding, place garbage in the hole, and cover the hole with bedding. Add to a
different area of the bin each time. You can add garbage every day, but once or twice a week is fine. Place a
sheet of plastic over the bedding, to help retain moisture in the system. If flies are a problem, place some bedding
over the waste or place some flypaper inside the lid. If you save food scraps between feedings, keep them in a
closed container to prevent odors.

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5. The worms eat the garbage and bedding, and turn them into a soil-like material called castings. In about 3 months,
the bedding begins to look like rich soil. Push all the bedding, garbage, and worms to one side of the bin, and add
new, dampened bedding to the empty side. Start adding garbage to the new bedding only. Within one month,
most of the worms will crawl over to the new bedding and garbage, and you will have finished compost on the
“old” side. This compost is a mixture of worm castings, decomposing organic material, and microorganisms.
Remove the compost and replace it with new, dampened bedding. Now you can add garbage to both sides. In 2-3
months, repeat the process.
6. Mix worm compost into your school garden soil, use it around trees and shrubs in the schoolyard, and combine it
with potting mix for classroom plants. Pure worm compost may contain high concentrations of salts, so do not use
it for sprouting tender seeds.

For more information:

Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof. Flowerfield Ent., FLower Press, 10332 Shaver Rd., Kalanmzoo, MI
49024. 1982. (616) 327-0108. www.wormwoman.com
What Every Gardener Should Know About Worms by Henry Hopp. Order from www.amazon.com.
“Using Worms and Composting (Vermiculture and Annelidic Consumption)” by Noel Prchal, in: The Edible City
Resource Manual. R. Britz. et al. Order from www.amazon.com.

Designing your Worm Bin:

The best worm bin is a shallow box, with a lid and with holes in the bottom or sides of the box. A shallow box
provides more surf ace area for oxygen to enter the box so that the worms can breathe.

Your worm bin can be:

1. A wooden box. This can be made for less than $35. Unfinished wood should last a few years; the box will last
longer if finished with varnish or polyurethane.
2. A plastic container. Before using a new plastic container and lid, scrub with a detergent and rinse thoroughly.
3. A Styrofoam box. This is inexpensive but less durable.

Make about 10, 1/2” holes in the bottom of the bin and place a plastic tray or sheet under the bin, or make the holes on
the sides of the bin and cover them with screen.

This bin is described

under The Redworm Garbage Recycling System. Stock the bin with 2 pounds of worms, or about 2000 worms, and
feed them up to 7 pounds of garbage per week.

Your worm bin can be any size and shape you want, as long as it is only 8“-16” deep. Add 1 pound of worms, or
about 1000 worms, for each 3-4 square feet of floor space in the bin. One pound of worms will eat up to 3-4 pounds
of garbage per week. For example, you can add 1 pound of worms to a 2’x2’x 8” bin.
 How to Make a Worm Box

Step 1: Make bottom first (use furring strips — they’re cheap and light). Use drywall nails.

Step 2: Make sides.

Step 3: Fasten sides to bottom (use long ~3” wood screws to fasten the furring strips of the sides to the furring
strips of the bottom) and nails to fasten the plywood of the sides to the planks of the bottom.

Step 4: Make the front and back.

Step 5: Fasten the front and back to the sides (use a couple of wood screws and 2 or 3 nails at each edge).

Step 6: Make the top, fit cutouts at corners around the verticals.

Step 7: Attach hinges.

Step 8: Make handles, if desired.

Step 9: Attach handles.

Step 10: Drill 1/8” holes in bottom and sides.

Worm Box
 1” - 1 1/4” thick planking
Cut to fit 24” strips

1” x 2” or
1” x 3”
Furring Strips

Bottom

1” x 2” or 1” x 3” Furring Strips

(Left) Sides (Right)

 13”

About 27”
Make 2
(Based on thickness or furring strips)

Front and Back

Hinges

1/4” or 3/8” Plywood

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