The Earth's Ancient Ways

Composting is a way we can recycle our organic wastes.   In the past when there were few humans, our waste could just rot where it was chucked, or be eaten by wild animals without any problems. But there are now so many of us, in concentrated habitations, that it causes health problems if it is left in rotting piles on the street corner.

So instead we compost it in heaps, and containers, but this is still entirely dependent on the natural systems of recycling that nature has evolved over 4 billion years. Fungal and bacterial action break it down. Other small animals then graze on those microbes, as well as eating fresh material, and converting it into droppings. All compost is manure, it is the poo of bacteria, earthworm, woodlouse, pot worm, slug ...... and so on!

Composting has been used by other organisms. A species of leaf cutter-ant collects leaves and composts them in its nest, where it grows a particular fungus on this compost. They graze on this fungus as a food source.

We can manage the compost to favour one type of creature and process over another. ‘Hot composting’, for example, favours the thermophilic bacteria, which give off heat; this is done by mixing and turning a balance of 'green' and 'brown' organic waste, sometimes in a vessel that is insulated. The brown and green mix is important. It represents the ratio of carbon to nitrogen. More carbon is needed than nitrogen, as it is what gives the energy to the microbes. It is analogous to our need to eat a good balance of carbohydrates and greens.

The drier carbon rich material also gives ‘structure’ to the compost, allowing air to flow freely through it. This stops it going putrid and smelly. So when we compost sloppy food waste, we have to add plenty of fibrous carbon material such as torn up cardboard, shredded paper, straw, leaves, hay, saw dust…

Wormeries

A wormery is a form of composting that favours worms ! We still need to mix food waste with plenty of ‘brown’ carbon material, but we are doing it in a cooler way (worms’ ideal temperature range is 15 – 25 °C). The microbes and fungi still get to work, and then the worms graze on that ‘rot’, and convert it all into their worm casts.

The worms move in the rotting material and help aerate it, so it does not need turning by hand. If it stays aerated it will not smell bad. It is only when organic matter becomes anaerobic (without air) that it gets putrid and smelly. A wormery is good for food waste, as it can be housed in a rat proof container. The compost it produces, called vermi-compost, (which is partly worm casts (worm pooh !) and partly other decomposed material) is very high in nutrients, and when mixed with soil or other compost, is good for plants.

The soil bacteria and nutrients it contains are beneficial to soil life and plant growth.