Composting garden waste and fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen is a great way to reduce the amount of garbage we throw away. This saves valuable tipping space, and compost itself is great for the soil. Keeping earthworms in containers and feeding them fruit and vegetable scraps, is another cheap, simple way to cut down on garbage. As a bonus, the worms produce a wonderful garden fertiliser - worm castings. Suitable containers for keeping worms include wooden boxes, stackable worm farms and stackable plastic worm factories. Worms can also be put in standard compost bins or heaps of compost as long as people know how to look after their worms in these situations - adequate instructions should be provided with the worms. There are many companies that sell worm farms and compost worms. Consult the Golden Pages telephone directory under 'Worm Farms'.

You can't use ordinary earthworms in a wormery, as the conditions are too rich. Special earthworms, called compost worms, work best, as they thrive in the rich, moist conditions of a wormery. The most common compost worms are Tiger Worms, Red Wrigglers and Indian Blues. For a supplier of compost worms, check with your local council.

For further information on composting and management of biodegradable waste please contact:

Wicklow County Council
Environmental Awareness Office
Murrough Environmental Centre
Wicklow

Phone: 1890 22 22 76
Email: eao@wicklowcoco.ie