Thursday, March 1, 2007

Worm Poo - in a (Recycled!) Bottle

Recently, I have been hearing more and more about the immense value of worms and their castings in the realm of gardening. Also known as vermiculture, the practice focuses on breaking down compost piles by way of a worm feeding-frenzy.

I feel as if I have a-ways to go with this next endeavor . . . and was delighted to hear about a young company called TerraCycle. Egads - a short cut?! Yes, indeed. And it is righteous.

They are bottling worm poop in, get this, recycled plastic bottles. A bit about them from their website . . .

"It all started in 2001 when two Princeton University students set out to change the way people do business. Inspired by a box of worms, these students had a dream: a company could be financially successful while being ecologically and socially responsible. Co-founders Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer were determined to turn the worm box concept into a real-life, commercially viable process. That summer, they developed prototype equipment and proved their concept was feasible by reprocessing solid waste from dining halls at Princeton University."

They need help collecting soda and water bottles and offer free space for gardening groups on their website. Check it out for further details . . .

1 comment:

Ellen Leigh said...

Cute! Looks kinda like the mini-worm-composter our group worked with kids to make to show them how valuable worms were! I had a larger version I made and kept in the basement for several years- great fertilizer! Let me know if you need directions to make one yourself- it's pretty easy.