Oor Wormery

 Wormery

 Emma, is going to champion the Wormery and the Food Waste programme at Polmont Community Hub, she is taking initiative forward and see where we can go with it. She is starting by building the Wormery to combat the food waste we have at the hub. Hopefully, in the future, once we have a garden set up, we can begin using the produce, such as plants and vegetables, harvested from it in our kitchen to create seasonal recipes. We’ll explore what we can do with this produce, including making herbal teas and other items. The scraps and food waste from that will then be fed back to the worms, which will break it down into compost and fertiliser to return to the garden. This cycle will continue, which will be extremely beneficial

. Kenny and Emma explored various wormeries available online, but our hub is committed to reducing plastic use. Unfortunately, most commercially available wormeries are made from plastic. The metal options we found didn’t seem very user-friendly. However, we realised that we could create one using materials we have at the hub, such as old filing cabinets. Our plan is to construct a wormery out of these filing cabinets and document the DIY process so that other community centres with access to similar materials can also create their own wormeries.

This initiative is an excellent example of upcycling—possibly the most effective upcycling for permaculture. We can’t think of a better way to engage our community hub, which is passionate about food growing, zero waste, sustainability, and permaculture.

On Friday, December 12, 2024, we gathered Stuart from our DIY maintenance team to begin working on the filing cabinet and sourcing additional items like screws, with the goal of not buying anything new. We’ll troubleshoot along the way to ensure that there’s no way for the worms to escape and to create a comfortable environment for them. Once we finished the construction, we ordered our worms in the evening and will now kick off the entire process. Everything should be underway by Christmas!

We hope that any food waste generated during the Christmas and New Year holidays will go directly into our new environmentally friendly wormery made from upcycled materials. This initiative could certainly serve as a model for other communities across the country.

Emma is also going to attempt to create her own project using more accessible household materials, like plastic boxes, so that people who don’t have larger items like filing cabinets can still participate in building wormeries. It’s important for everyone to find a way to manage food waste and compost for their gardens.

Currently, all the households in our area have small grey bins that could be converted into mini household wormeries. By working together, we can eliminate food waste in our neighbourhood.

Foreseen Issues by Emma:

- Because the cabinet is metal, it can rust, and the roller tracks on the inside may stop working.

- The weight inside the drawers could be too heavy, making it difficult to remove them. This extra weight could also cause the roller tracks to seize, making the drawers impossible to open.

- When the drawers are open, some migration holes could be blocked, causing worms to become trapped. Additionally, the sharp edges of the cabinet could potentially harm the worms.

- I’m concerned that there may be gaps between the drawers, which could prevent the compost from building up high enough for the worms to migrate while still allowing us to open the drawers.

 Proposed Solutions:

I think I have come up with some solutions. I found out about the batch method, which means the worms would remain in one drawer until they finish composting, after which they would be manually moved to a new drawer. This approach would also reduce the amount of compost needed in each drawer, alleviating the weight issue.

For the rust problem, we can explore various rust-inhibiting coatings. Initially, I considered using boat paint since many have natural anti-rusting properties, but many of these coatings are toxic. A more straightforward option might be using thick burlap material to keep the compost separated from the cabinet walls.

We were shocked to read about a step backwards in waste management policy—food waste collection services are set to begin in the Plymouth area starting March 2026. Instead of placing food items in their brown bins, residents will receive a separate food waste caddy. The implementation of this service will cost £4.2 million over the next few years and is expected to improve the city's underperforming recycling rate by up to 8%. The council has stated that this service will eventually cover every household in Plymouth, aligning the city with the practices of most other local authorities in the UK.

While we are making desperate efforts to go plastic-free, a district council is planning to purchase millions of plastic tubs and collect food waste from residents each week. We suspect that this waste will ultimately be given to a company that pretends to be environmentally friendly. They will likely turn it into a product they can sell on the international market, perpetuating the wasteful overconsumption of natural resources and encouraging more waste. This initiative appears to profit from taxpayers’ money and government grants for a green project, which reflects a backward approach that must stop. Whoever sanctioned that funding needs to be held accountable. 

While the exact cost to our local council of Falkirk is unknown, we have a proven track record of saving money and reducing waste. In just one year of operation, we have transformed losses into profits by significantly decreasing waste. Saving the council a huge amount of money while keeping this community asset in profit and well-used