Crunching the Numbers

According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2007/08, each person in England generated an astonishing 495 kilograms of household waste. That's almost half a metric tonne. In addition, Defra published a breakdown of the composition of household waste (admittedly, the data is for 2002,) represented in the following table:

Garden waste - 20%
Paper and board - 18%
Kitchen waste - 17%
General household sweepings - 9%
Glass - 7%
Wood/Furniture - 5%
Scrap metal/white goods - 5%
Dense plastic - 4%
Soil - 3%
Plastic film - 3%
Textiles - 3%
Metal cans/foil - 3%
Disposable nappies - 2%

Sources: Office for National Statistics, Defra.

Sorry if numbers aren't your thing, but I draw your attention to the kitchen waste figure: 17%. I know you can't put all your kitchen waste into a wormery for various reasons (attracting vermin, too acidic, etc.,) but if you only managed half of it, that amounts to an incredible 42 kilograms (or well over 6 stone,) per person, per year. Blimey.

Not A Lot Of People Know This, Either...

Vermicompost is also known as worm castings, or vermicast. It’s different from traditional compost formed in a compost heap as it’s much richer in nutrients. Vermicompost is too rich to be used as seed compost, but it’s a fantastic addition to potting compost or as a top dressing to soil.

Worm castings benefit soil in three ways – they improve the physical structure of soil, add nutrients and attract deep burrowing earthworms already present in the soil. All in all, vermicompost is pretty good stuff to have around.

Blog Features in East Riding News

Just to let you know that wormseatmypeelings gets a mention in the August 2009 edition of the East Riding News. A pdf version of the document is here - you'll need a copy of Adobe's pdf reader on your computer to view it.

Take a look at page 12; not sure about the photo!