This post was inspired by a question from a reader, but I’m including it in the “General Questions’ section since I’m not going to post the question. Truth be told I am partially trying to get in touch with the person who wrote in – unfortunately I received an email bounce when I tried to reply (this is definitely one of my pet peeves, since I hate to have people thinking I can’t be bothered replying!).
OK – so Diana, if you are out there…please contact me again with a different email address!
What Diana was basically wondering about was whether or not I was familiar with any cases of a small cafe or coffee shop that had incorporated vermicomposting into their business.
Unfortunately, I am not familiar with anyone doing this (or at least, I can’t remember – haha), but I’m hopeful that by posting it here, one of our readers WILL know of an example of this being done and be able to chime in.
Of course, I do think this is a great idea! In all honesty, I think every restaurant and cafe should have their own vermicomposting system (ok, so perhaps I am a tad biased here – haha).
As many of you may remember, last summer I attempted to process (via vermicomposting) the compostable waste from a popular local restaurant (see Restaurant Food Waste Vermicomposting), but had to end the partnership after a few months since there was simply too much waste to deal with. So I am at least somewhat familiar with this sort of project – but not from perspective of an actual business owner. There are definitely advantages to being someone trying to incorporate this into your own business – you will have intimate knowledge re: the amount of waste you produce, the general logistics of your operation, what exactly you are trying to accomplish, and much time/money you are willing to spend.
When simply collecting wastes from another business, it is really important to make sure that you and the business owner are on the same page with the game plan. I made the mistake of getting caught up in their enthusiasm and biting off more than I could chew.
Speaking of which, regardless of what side of the equation you happen to be on, I would definitely recommend starting off slowly. It will be important to determine how readily composting worms will consume the wastes you are producing/collecting, how quickly they are going to consume them, and how best to handle these materials before feeding them. Start with a small ‘pilot project’ – maybe even only with 1 or 2 regular worm bins. You can always expand from there. Cutting back once totally committed on the other hand, can be a bit more of a challenge (and can be a potentially costly mistake if you are the business owner).
I think cafes and coffee shops in some ways are better suited for this sort of project than larger restaurants, since coffee grounds and tea bags (your main waste materials I would imagine) are a lot easier to deal with than rotting food waste. They can be used in a wide variety of ways (mulches etc) since they look and smell nice – so having too much for your system(s) shouldn’t pose nearly as much of a problem as I encountered.
As I’ve discovered recently, coffee grounds can however be a bit of a challenge in a vermicomposting system. They can cause a system to heat up quite quickly if a fair amount is added at once. They also seem to be difficult to keep moist in a system that receives good air flow. As I wrote in another blog post, they are not all created equal either – some of the specialty blends or more finely ground…uhhh…grounds (haha) might not be as appealing for the worms.
Anyway, bottom-line I think there is a lot of potential here. Aside from reducing wastes (and perhaps disposal costs) this is a great way to promote the business. ‘Green’ is the new trendy thing, so marketing your ‘Green Cafe’ should be quite easy to do (local papers would likely want to write articles about you, vermicomposting bloggers might want to write blog posts about you – wink wink!)
Hope this helps, Diana – and perhaps more importantly, I hope it reaches you!
How long does it take (in general) to finish vermicomposting a batch
of kitchen scraps? I just started my first vermicomposting tub a few
weeks ago, and was wondering how long I should wait once I stop
feeding scraps before I separate out the worm and collect the
castings.
I realize I will most likely want to start a second tub so I can have
one that I am currently adding to and one that I am getting ready for
harvest, but it might be nice to have an idea of how long it’s going
to take so I can plan for my second tub..
Hi Michael,
That will be dependent on a LOT of different factors, so there definitely isn’t a firm answer I can give. The quantity of worms you are using, the bedding type, oxygen availability, your scrap handling methods (freezing? aging? blending? etc), the temperature, moisture content, types of food wastes added – these (and more) will all be deciding factors.
I frequently have tubs with very high concentrations of worms, ready to be quickly harvested for local customers – it is amazing to see just how quickly the worms can convert wastes into castings in these bins. It’s almost like I can’t keep them fed! haha
A bin FULL of shredded cardboard, bulky food wastes and 1/4 lb of worms on the other hand will likely take a couple of months (and that’s assuming conditions are otherwise conducive to successful vermicomposting).
Your best bet is to optimize as many variables as you can, and simply observe the system over time. With adequate worm numbers, warm/moist conditions, lots of easy-to-process waste materials/bedding, and good air flow, it is not unreasonable to expect to see a fairly well processed bin within a few weeks. There may be a fair amount of undigested materials on top due to drying out etc, but these can easily be removed and added to a new system before harvesting.
I put scaps into 5 gallon bucket and when ready mix with
bedding. This could be a month or later. at what point are the scaps
too rotted and how can I tell. Thanks for such a great website. I love
composting wih worms.
Rich
That is a really intriguing question, Rich – and I’m pretty sure you are the first person to ask me!
Let me start by saying that I am the KING of leaving rotting scraps – and newly set up bins containing bedding and scraps – to sit before unleashing the worms on them! A prime example of this was when I set up the bins for my YouTube videos (featuring the ‘basic’ and ‘deluxe’ worm bins). I seem to recall leaving them for at least a month before adding any worms.
Did I happen to mention that I’m a chronic procrastinator?
All joking aside – here’s the deal…
Obviously, the longer you leave these materials, the less value they are going to offer the worms – same goes for something like manure sitting outside in a pile, since eventually it’s basically just going to be rich soil. Water-rich food wastes sitting in some sort of container with no drainage and no absorbent bedding materials to wick up excess moisture are going to get nasty pretty quickly, and if you left them indefinitely would likely just turn into a horrifying sludge. If you added worms to this (or added it to a worm bin) it wouldn’t be pretty.
I’m the type of person who would STILL be trying to figure out how to make the stuff into worm food though – I would mix it with a LOT of dry absorbent bedding and would then leave it to sit for a while longer before attempting to use it.
Generally speaking, waste materials that have been left to sit with adequate bedding (i.e. lots of aeration and moisture absorption) will decompose aerobically and will be fine to use for worms at any time. You’ll likely see a proliferation of various types of fungi (molds etc), and eventually there won’t be much in the way of actual food waste left. Nevertheless, if you moisten and mix up the remaining materials it can still be used as a good food source.
I actually have a bin that’s been sitting with bedding and food waste for several weeks now – I think I’ll make a video showing what it looks like, and how I get it back in good shape to receive worms (thanks for the inspiration Rich!).
Recently, when I was getting some different orders together for my local Canadian worm business (which by the way is completely separate from my U.S. worm business based here on the RWC site), I thought it might be fun to shoot a video showing what these various quantities looked like. Interestingly enough, the 1/4 lb amount was actually added to my lint worm bin, written about in my last pot.
Please keep in mind that I’m only trying to give you a rough idea of what these quantities look like (and the video is pretty low quality as well), since many people really have no clue. As I mention in the video, there are various factors that can contribute to the overall ‘look’ of your worm order. If they are larger worms obviously there won’t be nearly as many. If they’ve been shipped there is a decent chance they will have lost some water weight, and they might not be this vigorous etc etc etc.
Based on this, you should at least be able to tell if you are being ripped off. I can still vividly remember a time (during my early vermicomposting days) when I drove about an hour to go pick up “1 pound” of red worms from a supplier. The quantity I ended up with MIGHT have been as much as 1/4 lb, but I doubt it. I can’t say I was too surprised to discover, a number of years later, that the supplier was no longer in the worm business.
I just wanted to post a quick update re: my Dryer Lint Worm Bin. Early last week I finally added some worms to the system. Given the tiny size of the bin I decided to only add 1/4 lb of Red Worms (Eisenia fetida).
There was already some food waste (mixed in with the lint when set up) that was nicely decomposed for the worms, but I’ve also added some coffee grounds (from my coffee maker – not my big box of grounds outside).
Initially, the worms seemed a little restless – crawling up on the sides and underside of lid (very common) – but they certainly seem to have settled down nicely, and appear quite content down in the lint/waste mix. Digging around, I see that they are very responsive and energetic – so all looks good!
I’ll be really interested to see how this system matures over time. As mentioned, the bedding (lint) will very likely take a fair bit longer to decompose than shredded cardboard does, so I’ll be curious to find out what sort of vermicompost production we end up with.
I’ll likely provide another update in a few weeks.
