Vermicomposting is becoming increasingly popular, and rightly so. It’s a simple method to put your cooking waste to good use. Vermicomposting, unlike traditional compost piles, can be performed indoors and requires very little area.
Worm composting, on the other hand, is a fantastic option. In an apartment, vermicomposting is easy and requires little time, space, or money. It’s an excellent strategy to reduce waste shipped to landfills while also producing a nutrient-dense natural plant fertilizer.
Apartment Composting With Worms
1) The Urban Worm Bag
The Urban Worm Bag is a continuous flow worm bin made of fabric that is ideal for worm composting food scraps in an apartment setup. Castings are collected through a double-layered base entrance that is sealed by an inside fabric drawstring and an outside zipper base. To provide improved airflow and an avenue for any excess water to drain at the base, you can either shut the base zipper or leave it open.
2) Stackable Worm Bins
Smaller worm bins, such as collapsible plastic containers, will take up less room, but they will not absorb as much garbage as the Urban Worm Bag. These worm bins, like the Urban Worm Bag, take full advantage of the worms’ natural desire to travel higher into clean and fresh feeding levels ahead, throwing worm excrement in the lower layers. These bins have punctured trays that, in essence, enable worms to freely travel.
However, most users claim that the worms prefer to stay in the lowest levels and are obstinate in their attempts to move higher. I’ve come up with an idea as to why this occurs.
The majority of new vermicomposters tend to start feeding their bins, resulting in moist bins than anticipated. Excess moisture is enticed by gravity and therefore is drawn into the base trays.
Worms like to dwell in wet areas because they attract moisture. Stackable bins’ all-plastic construction also helps to capture surplus moisture instead of enabling them to evaporate.
3) Bokashi
Another method that I’m less aware of is bokashi, which is a fermentation technique for organic waste. Food waste is pushed into a sealed container or bucket, a layer of bran is poured on top, and the organic waste is fermented for 10 to 2 weeks using the bokashi technique.
While the capacity to compost various types of organic waste is a benefit of bokashi, the residue is highly acidic and should not be consumed by plants right away. In my opinion, bokashi is a distant second to vermicomposting when it relates to composting in an apartment.
4) A Small Tumbler on a Balcony
Compost tumblers can be used to recycle food wastes if you have a balcony. This may be your sole choice for hot composting on the premises of your apartment.
Composting, on the other hand, necessitates a 30:1 ratio of carbon-heavy brown material like dead leaves or torn paper and cardboard to nitrogen-heavy green material like leftover food. On an apartment balcony, I see several possible issues with tumblers.
- Composting could be against your lease agreement if you live in an apartment or condo.
- Composting isn’t always nasty, although it can be if there’s too much green waste in comparison to brown waste. Your neighbors, roommates, and visitors are unlikely to be impressed by a foul-smelling balcony.
- Tumblers must be rotated or tumbled at least once a week. Although it is not a large commitment, it is important to attain decent results.
- You’ll need to employ paper goods in your apartment compost tumbler unless you’re willing to bring in a lot of dead leaves. Several paper products take a long time to degrade, resulting in matted compost. In vermicompost, I believe paper products decompose considerably faster.
