Good Earth Worm Recycling Reduces Garbage, Produces Rich Fertilizer For Gardens

She’s affectionately known as “the worm lady.”

Janice Peltier doesn’t dispose of her garbage in the traditional sense. She offers it to hundreds of worms who live in small, coffin-like boxes on her Chehalis farm.

“I love worms,” she said. “And they make the best fertilizer in the world.”

Peltier is among a growing number of Lewis County residents who are taking recycling to the next level. They use bins of worms to dispose of their kitchen waste, and to create nutrient-rich garden food.

It’s called worm recycling, or vermiculture.

Worms are pretty hardy. They can thrive in cold and hot climates, Peltier said.

“Worms can handle most anything, even nuclear waste,” she said. “They just glow in the dark afterward.”

Worm farmers should feed their little critters weekly, she said.

“The more you feed them, the more they reproduce,” Peltier said.

But unlike the family dog or cat, worms can go six weeks without being fed.

Peltier has a collection of plastic and wooden worm bins. The wooden bins resemble small coffins.

Like those of many worm farmers, Peltier’s bins are filled with shredded newspaper, straw and just enough worms to eat the amount of kitchen waste - coffee grounds, apple cores, orange peels, and vegetable matter - she produces.

But worm bins are capable of handling more. An average bin with about a pound of worms - about 1,000 of the little crawlers - can consume up to six pounds of food scraps and other waste a week. That’s about what the average family of four produces, Peltier said.

And no, the bins don’t stink. The only time they smell is when they are deprived of oxygen, she said.

Worm bins make a lot of sense. In addition to reducing garbage, the worms produce nutrient-rich, eco-friendly fertilizer for house plants and gardens, said Debbie Burris, Master Gardener coordinator at Washington State University’s Cooperative Extension office in Chehalis.

“Worm recycling reduces the amount of garbage you have to haul out (to the landfill), and it produces a rich compost mix for house plants,” Burris said.

Peltier comes from a farming background and now lives at her grandparents’ farm on Nix Road, south of Chehalis.

Peltier began worm recycling in 1987, when her husband took a master gardening course. She was a professional gardener and worked in the nursery business in King County. Peltier was also a King County Master Gardener.

Peltier takes the castings - waste the worms produce after decomposing the food scraps - and adds them to her greenhouse plants.

Amanda, a brown-and-orange Siamese mix, and her feline pals in the greenhouse, Bruno and Cokie, don’t need to worry about the worm castings because they’re pet-friendly, Peltier said.

“Vermiculture is a convenient, ecologically sound way to recycle kitchen waste,” she said.

Worm recycling also cuts down on refuse bills.

Vermiculture has commercial applications, too. Some hospitals and restaurants have worm boxes. A mental institution in Ontario uses worm recycling, Peltier said.

“They place their kitchen waste in worm bins, which produces castings that are spread on an organic field. The field produces vegetables for the kitchen. It’s a great process,” she said.