Inside the YES! Worm Bin

Posted by sshutts at Nov 03, 2009 08:30 AM | Permalink

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From the climate action blog: The YES! office benefits from the composting action of many thousands of now-famous worms.

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The YES! Magazine worm bin came out of a lunchtime discussion among staff seven years ago. Since the staff all ate lunch together every day, "we were always noticing how much food waste we had and thought, 'wouldn't it be great if we could so something with it?'" says Rod Arakaki, audience development director. Rod had a friend who donated his time to build the bin.

Employees put food scraps in a smaller bin that managing editor Doug Pibel puts in the worm bin, and staff sometimes take compost home for their gardens.

As for the worms, they are famous (if famous means mentioned on the back cover of the Fall 2009 issue of YES! Magazine). And no, interns did not have to hand-count the worms.

We keep the bin close to the back (it's just a few feet from the kitchen). It's easy to remember to put scraps toward the worm bin.

Do you compost at work or at home? Have a similar story or idea? Let us know.

Reader Comments

we have a worm bin at work

Posted by Izetta Chambers at Nov 05, 2009 12:11 PM

Our local University of Alaska Bristol Bay Campus is making strides to go sustainable. We have a solar panel array on the building, and a small wind turbine (primarily for educational purposes). Recently, one of the faculty members brought in her worm bin to provide for a way to dispose of food scraps. Because the ground is frozen during the winter months, composting outdoors is not an option. However, our staff and faculty are getting educated on how to make a wonderful garden amendment through vermiculture. So far, people are open to the idea and it has really taken off. There might be a fight in the spring over the casings, but perhaps we can make it into a drawing or some other game of chance for who gets to take them home. It's been a great tool so far, both for educational purposes and a way to think about sustainability in terms of minimizing food waste that goes to the landfill.