Michigan Company Wormies Uniquely Reduces Food Waste

One of our jobs as humans is to take care of the Earth that we, animals, and many other organisms call home, and we can all be honest and say that we haven't always done our best at properly caring for our planet. We have gotten better over time and have continued to find ways to reduce and recycle but it still hasn't been quite the change we need.

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One of the largest contributors to the destruction of the Earth and its atmosphere is waste, more importantly food waste, as there is nowhere for it to be properly disposed. Most food waste is thrown in garbage bags, placed in a dumpster, and then taken to a landfill where it is burned, releasing toxic gases into the atmosphere. Although this is the most common practice, there are other options.

In fact, many people have begun to turn to keeping their food scraps and using them in their personal gardens to enhance their gardens. We have all heard of composting and if you haven't, I'm honored to introduce you to the subject. Composting is the managed, aerobic biological decomposition of organic materials by microorganisms. It involves turning organic waste, such as leaves, food scraps, and yard trimmings, into a rich, nutritious soil amendment that can be used to improve soil quality and water retention in gardens.

Now that you know what composting is, there is a business in Michigan changing the game with an unexpected twist. Luis Chen created Wormies due to his passion of healthy eating and after learning that food waste isn't decomposed of properly at landfills.

Gather your food scraps, some yard and garden waste, and some soil and mix it all together. All of these different organisms will work along oxygen and as microbes come to life worms will begin to process that material creating what Chen calls "poop". Which supposedly helps grow really great crops and his friends began to ask for some compost and he realized he could sell it. Fast forward some time and Wormies is born and serving over 850 customers.

How Worms Help With Composting For This Michigan Company

Similar to a trash or recycling service, members get a five-gallon bucket to put food scraps in. Wormies employees pick up the waste from the subscribed homes and businesses and bring it back to the farm to dump it onto a pile. Its then mixed with leaves, woodchips, and other organic material during the thermophilic composting, or hot composting process.

After 30 days, it’s moved into a field and put into shallower wind rows. Red wiggler worms are then added to the piles and process the material for 12 months. When the process is complete, the material is put into a sifter to create the finished compost, called vermicompost. The nutrient-rich soil is used to nourish plants and gardens. Members receive a bag of it every eight pickups or every three months.

Wormies has steadily grown over last couple years which has allowed Chen to purchase a 14-acre farm in Alto in which he's using 10 acres for regenerative farming while the remaining 4 are for composting.