Rethinking U.S. Waste Management and Composting Practices
Are Red Wiggler worms actually efficient garbage disposals?
Red wiggler worms are small, but mighty creatures that can do a lot to help reduce waste and improve the environment. These worms are able to eat organic trash and convert it into rich, fertile soil through their poop.
Honestly, they’re doing nature a solid.
The problem of organic waste
30% of our trash is organic, so it’s not a terrible idea to feed some of it to worms. When thrown out, organic trash attracts pests and generates methane, a gas that contributes to global warming.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American produces approximately 4.5 pounds of trash per day, or around 1,642 pounds per year. This adds up to a staggering 262 million tons of trash produced by Americans each year. Damn.
The gift of wiggler worms
So, how many red wiggler worms would it take to eat all of this trash? Not all of the trash was food. 1,000 worms can eat about 3.5lbs of food in a week, and assuming 25% of trash is food, it would take. If we assume that 1,000 worms can eat 3.5 pounds of food waste per week, it would take approximately 1,485,714 worms to eat the trash produced by the average American in one year.
But just how many worms is this? To put it into perspective, let's consider some real-world examples:
If you were to line up 1,485,714 worms, they would stretch for almost 48 miles. That's longer than the distance from New York City to Philadelphia.
1,485,714 worms is also equivalent to about 743 tons. That's about the same weight as 500 elephants.
If you were to stack 1,485,714 worms on top of each other, they would reach a height of almost 4,500 feet. That's almost twice as tall as the Empire State Building.
As you can see, it would take a LOT of worms to eat all of the trash produced by Americans each year. But while worms can make a difference in reducing organic waste, they are not a complete solution. It's also important to focus on reducing the amount of waste we produce in the first place.
Source: https://www.usda.gov/foodwaste/faqs, https://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home