Wormeries

Ideal for flats and small gardens

A wormery is a small self contained unit that will compost soft organic kitchen waste such as vegetable peelings, coffee grounds and stale bread.

As it is small it can be kept in a garage, shed or even on a balcony. The wormery will produce compost for pot plants and a liquid plant food.

For more detailed information about wormeries and troubleshooting go to the Worm City website.

Purchase a wormery

Richmond borough residents can purchase and collect subsidised wormeries for £42 from Townmead Road Re-use and Recycling Centre. They may also order discount wormeries for home delivery via www.richmond.getcomposting.com for £53 (£5.49 is charged per delivery which may include multiple items purchased from the site, such as compost bins from £16.98 each).

Or if you are feeling creative you can make your own wormery using old tyres.

Make your own wormery

Follow these instructions to create a tier based wormery made out of four old tyres:

1. Create a base from old bricks or flagstones (must be flat and with as few cracks as possible). Place a heavy Sunday newspaper on top of the bricks. Stuff four old tyres with newspapers. Pile the tyres on top of each other, with the first tyre on the Sunday newspaper.
2. Put some scrunched up paper or cardboard in the bottom to soak up any excess liquid.
3. Fill the tyre wormery with organic material (semi-composted is best).
4. Only use kitchen waste if the unit is properly sealed (no gaps or cracks).
5. Add worms (tiger or brandling; these are much redder than the common garden earth worm).
6. Use a piece of board weighed down with bricks as a lid. The lid must be big enough to stop rain getting in.
7. Harvest a tyres worth of fertilizer roughly every 6-8 weeks (during warm months).