About


About Werking Worms:

Werking Worms was born out of a desire to reduce environmental footprints. With plant-based eating on the rise and composting infrastructure lagging, most kitchen food waste ends up in landfills. It is estimated that 40% of all food produced in Canada ends up as waste1. Composting is a solution to keep food waste out of landfills, however, composting as a city service it is not accessible to everyone. Therefore, vermicomposting can serve as a personalized compost solution. Managing ones organic waste at home, offers a unique perspective on our own environmental footprint. 

The goal of Werking Worms is to divert food waste from landfills by using vermicomposting as a means to upcycle waste into a valuable material- worm fertilizer. The efficacy of vermicomposting is well researched and supported in the published literature. While worm castings are often used commercially to fertilize organic agriculture, Werking Worms offers worm castings to the average consumer for use on house plants and personal gardens. Our worms werk hard so your greens can have the nutrients they need to thrive.

 

Creating Werking Worms:

In my youth, learning about the climate crisis initiated a hyper-awareness of surroundings, specifically my environmental footprint. This early life moment triggered a series of lifestyle changes, such as adopting a sustainable diet and engaging in environmental activism. I transferred to the University of Ottawa in 2015 to pursue a Bachelors of Science. In 2019 I graduated with Honors in Environmental Science, and began working in Geoscience research at the University of Ottawa. 

Given my education, I knew that organic matter such as my food waste will anaerobically breakdown in landfills creating greenhouse gasses2. I quickly realized that, the food scraps I was putting into the garbage regularly was problematic. The perfect solution to that problem was composting, so the food waste could be diverted from landfill. However, it became apparent to me that many apartment buildings, like mine, were not serviced by the city of Ottawa's composting infrastructure -as is the case in many cities. Therefore, I sought out my own compost solution in the fall of 2019- enter vermicomposting! Composting using earth worms was a new experience that implored me to use my education, passion and desire for change, all of which fostered the creation of Werking Worms.

 

 

Sources:

1. University, York. “Food Waste General Data.” Food Waste General Data | Food Policy for Canada, York University, foodpolicyforcanada.info.yorku.ca/goals/goal-5/food-waste/general-data/.

2. Behera, Shishir Kumar et al. “Methane Production from Food Waste Leachate in Laboratory-Scale Simulated Landfill.” Waste Management 30.8-9 (2010): 1502–1508. Web.