Confessions of a Worm Killer Part 1

A few years ago, I made a solid attempt at composting kitchen waste in my Tysons Corner apartment. I built a composter and followed online instructions, down to ordering the right worms to help me out. One afternoon, I opened my balcony pantry and discovered every last worm had committed suicide, falling six feet to their deaths during an escape attempt from my over-moist experiment gone horribly wrong. I was horrified by the mass casualties. My good intentions had led to the death of a hundred innocent creatures and I felt awful, for days. I was a worm killer, unfit for such composting activities again.

Fast forward five years. I've recovered emotionally from my transgression and am giving composting another try—this time without the worms.

One of the reasons I became a vegetarian almost 30 years ago, was to reduce my impact on the Earth; to minimize taking more than I could give back. While I knew this was not completely achievable, it was the right path for me. And while not eating anything with a face has been my motto most of my life, there are other things I do that impact the planet and make me feel guilty as hell. One of which is throwing food away.

Without boring you with food statistics, everyone can attest to the realities of food waste in their own home. There is always something we don't eat before it goes bad, or we can't finish and the leftovers would just be gross. No one eats leftover french fries, no matter how yummy they were when they were fresh. So what do you do with all that leftover food?

Starting today, I'm conducting a worm-free composting experiment. I purchased a one-gallon kitchen counter composting bin with filter made by Natural Home. It looks nice on my countertop and is small, easy to access, and unobtrusive.

I added in some over-the-hill organics—lettuce, a banana, and grapes—a few leaves shed by my houseplants, and cut up a few pieces of a Trader Joe's brown paper bag to absorb some of the moisture, and mixed together.

Now it's wait and see time. Since I've never done this before, I'm not sure how or if it will work. I'm not even sure what I'm going to do once it's composted.

As I document this process to see how easy or hard it is, I'm also going to document my observations and note any recommended changes I need to make. The ideal scenario is to compost as little as possible because there is no need; everything eaten or used prior to going bad.

Observation 1: How much food I needed to throw away. I filled the bucket halfway up in a week's time.

Recommendation 1: Weigh the food before tossing into the bin, gaining a better understanding of the volume of food being discarded.

Recommendation 2: Buy less and shop more often, thereby reducing volume of freshies to go bad.

Observation 2: How I'm feeling. Polyemotional. I feel guilty for having so much to throw away, but feel good about taking action steps to reduce waste. I also feel more accountable because I'm documenting this process.

I will check in with everyone next week and let you know how it's going in Confessions Part 2.

To be continued ...