Can I Keep a Compost Bin In An Apartment?

Composting works, even in a third floor, Manhattan apartment. Here is the expereince from 10 months of worm-wrangling in an apartment compost bin.   FAQ's:

Do they smell? They smell as clean as pristine Wisconson dirt in a fresh-plowed field.

Do they eat everything? No, they are really slow with corncobs taking several weeks, even if diced up-- not surprising since all they have are lips, an intestine, and a sandy gizzard. Fruit attracts fruit flies and harbors fruit flies so we add it after freezing it. Here is one of the big successes: a plastic beer cup that was labeled 'compostable'. I was skeptical about this apparently styrene cup. Even after a month it looked brand new. But somehow in the third month, this compostable plastic turned into a slimy scumbag (see below) and I presume it dissolved soonafter.

Do the worms try to get out? Not to scare you but, on four different occasions we have seen a dozen worms make a break for it. They were halted by the lid. We think they were protesting too much moisture. When we leave the lid off they don't try to escape.

How do you scoop out the rich black dirt but leave behind the living worms? The worms flee light so you scoop out the dirt onto newspaper, wait 15 minutes, take the top inch or two of dirt, repeat. Eventually, you get all the dirt and the newspaper is 100% worms, terrified, huddling in little clusters, at which point you toss the worms back into the compost bin. (see piles of worms, below, fleeing the light at dirt harvest time).

  (plastic bin is in the background, separating worms from the compost based on photo-phobia, in the foreground)

Is the food in an apartment compost bin rotted? No, it is eaten by the worms and their bacteria. Very little slimy mold or rotting seems to occur. Maybe it is like yogurt, with the good decomposers crowding out the objectionable, smelly ones.

Can you stock a composter with “worms” from outdoors? If you mean earthworms no. Bloodworms (Red Wigglers!) work well for us, bought from a non-profit urban composting table set up at a farmer's market in the city.

(here's the biodegradeable cup in closeup and the worms in closeup )

Comments

[Denise]

You'd better watch out of PETA will picket your place for frightening worms.

[Dave]

That is far out! Now I feel suddenly ashamed of our own alleged compost pile, A.K.A. Fort Garbage. We do get to watch woodchucks picking up corncobs in their front paws to eat the missed kernals, though.

[Waz]

Worms!!! =\