How To Compost In Your Apartment

SUSTAINABLE - A MERICA - HOW TO COMPOST -IN YOUR APARTMENT- NO SMELLS & NO PESTS! -WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO COMPOST INDOORS- CONTAINER (WITH 2 LIDS) PAPER (NON-COATED) WORMS (RED WIGGLER) FOOD SCRAPS WATER 1. PURCHASE OR PREPARE A CONTAINER. 2. SHRED PAPER. Create holes along the bottom and top of your container for ventilation and drainage. Container should be plastic or ceramic. You will use the other lid under the container for water drainage. Or you can purchase a pre-made worm bin. Shred into 1-inch strips. Use newspaper, old bills-anything that is uncoated will do. 3. SOAK PAPER IN WATER. 4. LINE CONTAINER WITH PAPER. Soak in water and wring out so that paper is moist but not dripping. Put half of your shredded and soaked paper into your container. It doesn't need to be exact but fill your container about 1/3 of the way with paper. 5. ADD YOUR WORMS. 6. ADD FOOD SCRAPS. Add your worms and a little bit of soil. Let them sit in the sunlight. They will soon burrow into the paper. Add food scraps and bury them under your remaining damp paper strips. (Always * bury/mix food when you add it.) 7. 8. FIND IT A HOME. KEEP IT GOING & GOING. Make sure you find a cool place without a lot of sunshine for Continue to add scraps until you have more soil than scraps. Then let the mixture sit until all scraps have fully composted. Scoop out the compost (not the worms!) and start again! your worm bin. 9. USE YOUR COMPOST! YAY There are a lot of ways to use your compost even if you don't have a garden! You can use it as fertilizer for potted houseplants, give it as a gift, or even just sprinkle it across your lawn. Whatever you choose to do with it, you can be proud that your food waste is being upcycled and not going to the landfill! IT'S EASIEST IF YOU BUILD TWO CONTAINERS AND STACK THEM, THEN ROTATE THEM OVER TIME. VENTILATION HOLES DRAINAGE HOLES Worms will travel up these. when there is no longer any food in the bottom container DRAINAGE HOLES Fill this bin with food first. When it's full, fill the top bin. The worms will start by eating in the bottom bin. Once they've made it all compost, they'll travel up to the top bin. That is when you harvest your compost from the bottom and put the newly empty bin on the top to start the process over again! WHAT TO USE & WHAT NOT TO USE I0 paper tea bags egg shells meat bones dairy food scraps. coffee filters peels & grounds pet feces chemicals dried leaves Paper towels & tissue vegetables plastic citrus -TIPS & ŠOLUTIONS- • It takes about 12 weeks for worms to • Make sure you have 1 square foot of space per pound of worms. completely break down a full bin of compost. Smaller bins may go faster! Worms can eat about half their weight in food per day! So fill accordingly. • The smaller the food and paper scraps, the faster the worms can eat them! If your bin gets too wet, add paper. If it's too dry, add a little water. You'll know if it's too wet because your 'swimming' to the top to • Worm compost and the brown 'tea' that drains out of your bin minerals that plants love! worms will super rich in escape drowning. • Your compost is ready when you have a rich, black hummus that you can • Make your holes the diameter of a pencil. As long as your bin is not too wet, the worms will not try to escape. scoop out. • You'll have to buy your first round of worms, but if you treat them right they will last for years and years! • Be sure to get 'red wiggler' worms. Not all worms are created equal when it comes to compost! FOOD FOR THOUGHT. FUEL FOR CHANGE. wwW.SUSTAINABLEAMERICA.ORG SUSTAINABLE - AMERICA- SOURCE: www.lesecologycenter.org