Apartment Composting 101: Vermicompost with Barb Finnin
UPDATE: We have modified this original design to a shallower, more airy worm bin. Check out our new design here, ryanishungry.com Cheers! Good Luck! ————————————– Barb Finnin is part of the amazing Freshtopia team. She’s a certified master composter- her specialty is Vermicomposting with worms. We were super excited to learn that we could compost in our city apartment with a homemade worm bin even though we don’t have a yard. Throwing food scraps away in the garbage is not something either of us enjoys, so having a green alternative has been more than satisfying for our sustainability goals. After 4 weeks, our worms are happy and thriving. Find out more about Vermicomposting and other forms of composting on Wikipedia. Visit Barb at Freshtopia.net. Runtime- 9:47
Filed under Composting by on Sep 22nd, 2010. Comment. 
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Comments on Apartment Composting 101: Vermicompost with Barb Finnin
@crock703 I’m wondering if you can’t just use bait worms. And then, when there get to be too many worms, use them to go fishing?
@echicao we have a shredder too, and it’s a great way to make the newspaper bedding.
i am very interested to know this too. my plants have attracted them too.
@RyanIsHungry
it depends what color & paint is used on paper. some have lead in them or other petro chemical compounds. newspaper should not be used for that reason!!! ur worms wont die from it but it is still toxic! Just dont put any glossy paper in ut worm box.
if i put the newspapers in the shredder will it work too?
@supersonicavengers chang the newspaper on top form time to time and no smell, there is something on bottom to catch the leakage and the leakage is also great for soil also known as worm tea (though i wouldn’t drink it, it’s for plants) and the worms are small but you only need tiny worm holes. Atop that the worms should be happy there with no reason to leave and will only populate to the point needed never over that so you’re safe
@HairbyJUXTA
You do need to change the paper on it cause over time the smell does get through, anywhere from once a week to once a month or so will do ya fine and you may wanna kinda start fomr scratch, get as many worms out as ya can, clean the bin very well make sure not le leave soap behind and then go at it again
What do you suggest for preventing fruit flies?
My bin was overtaken by them, and we had to move it to the balcony, but now I’ve been told that I have to trash the entire thing before summer arrives.
Seems like lining it with material to cover the hole might help in the beginning, but what do I do now that mine is riddled with gnats?
newspaper has a grain?
How do I convince my husband to have this in the kitchen? He’s worried about smell, leakage and worms getting out!
I heard that composting grains is not recommended. Not sure why or why not. Just wondering about your opinion.
@greencatmusic actually most newspapers and flyers are printed using soybased ink, conventional ink is becoming to expensive
What a great idea…They should use things like this in cities like Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where there are many apartments and the trash can became a problem
Great vid. i got a pre-fab system for this from tierrapath
Also, PCBs shouldn’t be leaching on the inside of the bucket unless you keep your bin out in the sunlight. Plastic photodegrades.
For everyone concerned about inks in paper, the vast majority of newspapers in the world(america, especially) use soy based inks. Perfectly safe.
Nice video!!!
I only recommend to look for a better tray. I think that the compost inside the bin is going to drain all the tea worm once the process has evolved. That is a very precious organic fertilizer too.
And I don´t recommend to have the vermicompost bin in your kitchen for sanitation reasons.
You can’t deny the stuff in the paper HAS to be some funky stuff. There’s probably a problem that you might not be noticing. Ever wonder how your worms like the ‘taste’ of the funky inks and whatever the heck that stuff is made of. It can’t be good. I don’t even think we would feel that good eating that stuff. Not to mention it’s probably safe to assume that the inks don’t get fully broken down in their digestion so it’ll still be in the castings. Ink residues in your veggies. Yum!
you can use color but don’t use the glossy ones
I also wondered about pcbs from the plastic if it’s not food grade plastic …
Is straw better tha n printed paper? It seems really unorganic to use printed paper that must have loads of toxins in it if you want real organic compost for plants? That said… how fantastic this is for people without gardens! Thanks for posting this excellent and very helpful video x
don’t use color ink news paper. it contains high levels of heavy metals and other nasties …
there are only two of us making ‘trash’. I was amazed at how much compost material we made just ourselves. I sure hope more people start composting and worm composting. It will be awesome how much space we can save in landfills.
Thank you for the response. I have shredded up my paper and added it to the compost. Lets hope they like it !!!!
Very nicely done.. lots of great advise… this is a great recycling activity