Community and Health - GARBAGE COLLECTOR

Make your own worm farm

You will be surprised at how many food scraps we throw out each day in our households that could be used to make rich soil to help our Australian poor soils.

Stuff you will need:

1. Solid polystyrene vegetable container
2. Something to make a hole with
3. Newspaper
4. Some soil
5. Food scraps
6. Worms (you will need to buy these worms at the local plant nursery or look up "Worm Farms" in the telephone book)
7. Hessian bag - ask the local green grocer or grocery shop
8. An empty ice cream container
9. Some bricks (or something to place the container on)
10. Small pebbles

What to do:

1. Get your polystyrene container and make a small hole in the bottom at one end. This should only be the size of a pencil.

2. Line the container with the small pebbles and then put on a layer of newspaper.

3. Next place some soil from your garden.

4. Then some food scraps. Add another layer of newspaper.

5. Add the worms and then cover with more newspaper and the hessian bag. This will keep in the moisture and keep out the light.

6. Place the container on some bricks or an old table or if you are doing this at school, a side desk.

7. Place the empty ice cream container under the hole to collect the moisture from this re-cycling process.

8. Leave the container undisturbed for about 2 to 3 weeks. Collect the moisture from the ice cream container.

9. The moisture from the ice cream container is rich in nutrients. Dilute by 50% with water and then add to plants in your home or school garden.

What you will see:

When this period of time has elapsed, look at the container and you will see rich soil. Place the contents of the container on a large table covered in newspaper. Gradually take off the soil. The worms will go further down to avoid the light.

When the soil and worms are separated, start your worm farm again. You will have lots of fun and more importantly help our environment.

Adventures of Herman - the worm Interesting web site with facts as well as games.	Protect the Environment: Kids in Action Experiments at home (make your own paper, acid rain experiment), Dream house made by high school students, Tips and simple games.
Recycling Tips Download this free app for an android smartphone - it gives you lots of tips about recycling	Clean up the Park - A Recycling Game Uses Macromedia Flash. Very simple game. Only younger students might play this game.