Let’s Hear It for the Worms

Meet Radford Junior School’s new best friends – composting worms.

In January, these wonderful creatures (red wriggler, Indian blue and tiger worms) became responsible for recycling the Junior School’s food waste into nutrient-rich compost.

The process takes just eight weeks and will significantly reduce contamination of the Junior School’s plastic and glass recycling by separating food waste into dedicated bins and the amount of carbon dioxide omitted into the atmosphere.

Anything from mango seeds to biodegradable packaging and cutlery, eggshells, tea bags and newspapers can be fed to the worm farm, which is six-metres long and one-and-a-half metres wide.

The worm farm can handle more than 120 kilograms of food waste every week (more than five tonnes per year) and the compost will be used to fertilise the Junior School’s garden. The leachate – also referred to as worm juice – will also be available to purchase to nurture gardens beyond the College grounds.

Radford’s Sustainability Working Group began the project in 2022 and engaged contractor Global Worming to construct the worm farm.

“Sustainability is a key component of Radford College’s Strategic Plan,” said Radford Sustainability Working Group member and Director of Finance, Agnes Kopras-Ianson.

“Our worm farms provide a fantastic opportunity for the College to reduce its waste to landfill and educate our community. We are thrilled to be working with such an experienced contractor, who will help us to maintain the health of our worm farms and with the education.”

Global Worming owner Cid Riley is a full-time worm farmer and looks after 20 schools in Canberra. He and his staff will visit the Junior School weekly to collect food scraps to feed the worm farm with and hold workshops with students and staff.

“We are on a mission to make people aware that there are other ways of disposing food waste besides the landfill,” said Cid. “Worm composting can be done in any household or business with waste. You can even compost in an apartment. Everyone should be on the fight against filling up our landfills and making our plants a little greener in the meantime.”

Teacher Dean O’Brien, who is also a member of Radford’s Sustainability Working Group, recently took his Year 4 class to the worm farm to meet their wiggly friends.

Here's what the students had to say:

"I am excited that our community took a step closer to becoming a more sustainable school" - Yongmin Yin.

"The worm farm has no bottom, so the worms can get out, but they don't because they are compost worms, so they stay near the top for the food, which is why they make great compost worms" - Fraser Treloar.

"I think the worm farm is great because I see lots of banana peels and apple cores on the playground. It is great because we can use the compost to help all the plants we have. Thanks Cid" - Emma Weenink.

"The worm farm is really good for the environment because when you tell people about it, people stop putting their scraps on the ground and start giving them to the worms and the school will stay clean! But you have to look after them if you want to keep them" - Zoe Quinn.

"Worms, worms are incredible and this year they're going to help our earth thrive. Right at this moment, they're composting a wonderful, juicy potion for Radford's garden. 4DO are very excited for the environmental year ahead" - Alannah Bullock.

Radford’s Sustainability Working Group has plans to install another worm farm at the Junior School - doubling the capacity of food waste managed on-site - and one more at the Secondary School down the track. Facilities Manager Craig Webber is also managing a roll out of desk bins for all staff to capture as much food waste across the College as possible.

See the Junior School worm farm being built in the video below.

If you would like to purchase worms to set up your own worm farm, or have any questions, you can contact Cid at globalworming@mail.com or check out Global Worming on Instagram at global_worming.

You can also join the ACT Government’s Food Waste Challenge if you would like to work on reducing food waste in your home.