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Simple’s D-Solve sneakers have worms on the bottom of the biodegradable sole! No word on their site if they do any vermicomposting at their company headquarters, but I wouldn’t be surprised as they’re committed to making their products 100% sustainable. Any one know if they do any worm composting? If not, you know where to point them.

Check out the Worms!

Sun Chips has introduced a new bag made from plants that is fully compostable. You can go to the site to learn more about the pretty cool process to create the bag, and they also offer a number of tips for home composters. No mention of vermicomposting but certainly a cool development from a large company.

I wonder if the bag costs significantly more than traditional packaging? Why wouldn’t all chip bags be made from this material?

This week’s vermicomposting articles include a video piece from Rochester, New York, about Worm Power’s rapidly growing business selling vermicompost. They’re set to sell 2 million pounds of compost this year!

Also worth reading about Boise, Idaho’s Red Feather Lounge. They use 200,000 worms in the basement of the restaurant to recycle 100 pounds of food waste per day, and they may even be the only restaurant in the country to do vermicomposting on site. Know of any others?

The Worm Factory isn’t front and center for most of the clip, but it’s definitely worth a watch. The clip features a guy who lived for a year without using his municipal trash pickup by being more conscious of his purchases and by using worm composting to reduce his paper and food scrap waste. The average American throws away nearly 5 pounds of trash each day, and this guy was able to generate only 30lbs of trash over the course of a full year! Not bad…thank you worms.

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For anyone interested in locating worm suppliers, check out Find Worms. They offer the world’s largest database of worm farms to make it easy to find/order composting worms, and their site is full of useful information for those looking to start worm composting.

You can also check out our recommended worm suppliers here.

This is a great article in the Wall Street Journal on the growing popularity of compost bins. It even includes a nice review of the Worm Factory 360.

Finally, the Worm Factory 360 was far less creepy than I’d imagined and even mildly entertaining. It consists of stackable trays you fill with food, newspaper and other waste; worms are upwardly mobile, so they crawl to higher levels where new food awaits—leaving compost behind. You can buy the composter with worms at some retailers or order them elsewhere;findworms.com lists suppliers by state. After prepping the lair with coconut fibers (included), shredded newspaper and dirt, I plopped in 1,000 thin red wigglers ordered by mail from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm in Spring Grove, Pa. Other than preferring food chopped small, worms are low maintenance—they eat and work.

I completely agree, worm composting is “far less creepy” and definitely “mildly entertaining.” Give it a shot with a Worm Factory bin.

Has anyone tested any of the other “speed” composters?

I first started worm composting at the University of Michigan when I was a part of Cultivating Community. It’s grown a lot in the last few years, but the end goal remains the same:

Create a University-based closed-loop, sustainable gardening system using pre-consumer food waste to be recycled via vermicomposting with the ultimate goal of providing healthy, locally-grown produce for the community.

Organic food scraps from the university’s cafeterias are collected and fed to red worms who quickly turn the food waste into nutrient rich compost. The compost is then used to fertilize food gardens that supply the university’s cafeterias with locally grown vegetables. The whole system creates a 100% closed-looped food program. And the composting worms play a vital part! Check out their site to learn more.

Maybe you can use worms to create a 360-degree food system at your school or office. Not ready to tackle such a large project? Build a small system within your home!

The Worm Factory® 360 now includes a free instructional DVD that provides step-by-step instructions for setting up and managing your worm bin.

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Check out the New York Times’ article on vermicomposting.

“There’s a growing awareness of its value,” said Elizabeth Royte, the author of “Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash.” “We had a recycling revolution, now we need a composting revolution.”

The article also mentions that food waste represents about 13% of our nation’s trash. By worm composting, you’re helping to minimize a large portion of our growing garbage problem. Keep up the good work!