Store turns waste materials into nutrient-rich soil
Posted on Sunday, July 6, 2008
In a dark corner in the back of the Ozark Natural Foods basement, there is a black bin with nothing around it.
The bin does not contain tools, products or fresh produce. In fact, it contains the opposite: decomposing produce being eaten by worms.
While this might sound unusual for a food store, it produces nutrient-rich soil, recycles food waste and helps save money.
These bins can improve your yield, your home garden and help cut costs, Robert Laswell, head receiving manager at Ozark Natural Foods, said.
Laswell began the project about nine months ago as a way to recycle write-off and produce waste at Ozark Natural Foods. The process happens inside the bin, which features different levels with holes in the separators, where the worms will eat the rotting produce and other foods, then produce nutrient-rich soil.
Although Laswell thinks he is the first to operate such a project in the area, he is definitely not the first worldwide. The Canadian government has a national program with such a project, he said.
Laswell said the bin is basically a worm farm where decomposing food is taken and placed at different levels, with the most decomposed going at the bottom, and filtered all the way up to the top. As the food gets more and more decomposed, he said, the worms will crawl from their dirt base and eat back and forth through the different holes.
Their waste is the soil, and its really good growing and potting soil, Laswell said.
Even with the benefit of producing soil from recycled products, he said, Ozark Natural Foods officials are still unsure what they are going to do with it.
Right now we have several ideas about the soil, and we are working on them, he said. We are looking at possibly selling it or even doing something with it through some school programs.
We are a communitybased business, and we are trying to get more involved in the community from the corporate settings all the way down to lunch programs. It would be great to see some school lunch programs trying to introduce recycling in a new way. We can recycle plastics, papers and glasses, but we can also recycle wasted food.
Though the bins do consist of dirt, damp newspaper which the worms use as bedding worms and decomposing produce, Laswell said, they are relatively low-maintenance, self-contained and are meant to go inside the home.
Once you get them clean and running efficiently, you can keep them in the home, he said. They are low maintenance, and the worms do 90 percent of the work... They take care of themselves for the most part. We are just the overseers.
While the bins might be low-maintenance, there are a few regulations.
There are a ton of creatures out there that recycle things efficiently, and worms are one of the most efficient creatures nature ever made, Laswell said.
However, he said, while any type of worm could be used, certain worms are better than others, like the ones Ozark Natural Foods uses red wigglers. Worms are purchased for about $ 5 to $ 10.
There are also certain foods that should not be placed inside the bin, he said, including coffee grounds, eggshells, animal products like fish and meat, salts and high-acidic foods. The best foods to place inside the bin are leafy, green vegetables and other produce or bread or starchy foods, he said.
The bins in the project also have a few requirements. They should be placed in a dark, cool environment, which suits the needs of the worms. Most people put their bin under a sink or in a garage next to a trash can, Laswell said.
The bins can be purchased online for about $ 90 to $ 500; however, people can also build their own.
But while the bin and worms might require money spent, Laswell said, this project will help save money.
If youre an avid gardener, it will save you money, he said. Plus it saves money in trash bags for not throwing away as much food waste. It also changes your mind frame because once you get involved in recycling little things, it helps you realize, Man, thats a lot of waste. Maybe I dont need to make as much food for me and my wife.
Laswell said the new project introduces to the community ideas pertaining to a subject in which theyre interested.
We are trying to teach that people can have a sustainable society in the community, he said. These are ideas anybody can use.
This is a great educational tool for the home and at school, Roger Hill, marketing and owner services manager at Ozark Natural Foods, said. This is something you can do in an urban environment and a suburban environment as well. Its the kind of thing that can really spread.
For more information on Ozark Natural Foods or this project, call 571-7558 or visit the Web site: www. ozarknaturalfoods. com.
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