Find your handful of worms

Introducing the African night crawler

Some complex problems have simple solutions, and a handful of worms may be the answer to the biodegradeable wastes of Baguio city.

On June 13 and 14, thirty people gathered at St. Scholastica Convent to learn the theory and practice of vermicomposting. We were lucky to have Michael Cagas as our teacher, who has built his expertise through seven years of focused practice, experimentation, and teaching of vermiculture and vermicomposting. Though some of us went to the training with doubts about caring for worms, we all left with our bayongs-full of worms, determined to start our own backyard and household vermicomposting, and do our share in solving the garbage problem in the city.

The African night crawler looks like our own native earth worm, in size and color. Unlike the native earthworm, it is flatbellied, which enables it to crawl on a flat wall. Also it does not burrow or bore holes in the earth, and prefers to stay on the surface. Thus, this worm is no threat to the rice paddies, like the giant earthworms now destroying the Banaue rice terraces. Michael allayed the fears of some participants that this worm would become a pest or invasive species, by explaining that it actually needs care and and protection from pests and predators like chickens, frogs, insects. Thus, they would not be able to survive and thrive, if they are not given the ideal environment and home.

One kilo of worms can eat one kilo of organic wastes in a day, and turn this into vermicast, which is a superior type of organic fertilizer. Furthermore, the organic waste is reduced to a fraction of its original volume. Thus, a handful of worms inside a sako, with appropriate bedding materials, can serve as a perpetual bin for household biodegradeable wastes. In other words, your trash bin does not get full because the worms are consuming them and processing them into smaller amounts of vermicompost. Isn't this a wonderful way to manage our organic wastes?

So, what can we put into the sako? All kitchen wastes, like fruit and vegetable peelings, garden trimming, banana stalks, sayote, even pig, chicken, and horse manure. This does not produce bad odors, because the good bacteria are able to fight the bad bacteria.

We learned about the needs, behavior, mating patterns of the African night crawler. Hopefully, this knowledge will help us culture the worms so that they reproduce, and allow us to share a handful of worms to our neighbors and friends. Participants to the training included indigenous migrants, urban poor, gardeners of several convents, NGO workers, and organic farmers.

Thus, if you want to join this worm initiative, ask around, try to find your neighbors who do not produce any biodegradeable wastes, and request a handful of worms for your own household.#

Expertise in Waste Management

Baguio city is experiencing an unprecedented garbage crisis which has stumped our city officials.

Here is my unsolicited advice to the newly-organized City Environment Management office (CEMO): Consult the indigenous experts in waste management. The indigenous migrants in Baguio city are bearers of traditional knowledge and cultures with extremely light ecological footprints. From them, we can learn how to deal with garbage at source, before it needs to be collected and transported to dumpsites or landfills. Before recycling became the rage, indigenous peoples had mastered the art of zero waste management, making optimum use of resources at hand.

One shining example is to be found in Barangay San Luis, where migrant families from Mt. Province continue to practice their tradition of simple living. Geraldine Cacho of ORNUS shares the following innovations and practices of the indigenous migrants in Barangay San Luis, which surely go a long way in reducing, reusing, and recycling wastes.

Organic wastes are put to good use in their home gardens. Animal wastes, ashes of burned dried leaves and papers, and biomass from wild plants like sunflower are used as fertilizers. Those who raise pigs collect left-overs from food chains, restaurants, and hotels; fruit and vegetable rejects and peelings from the Baguio market and La Trinidad Trading Post. Jeeploads of these valuable organic materials are recycled for pig food. Those who cook the food for the pigs use waste paper, cartons, and dried leaves and twigs.

Cans and plastic containers are recycled by the San Luis residents. Big cooking oil cans are used as water containers and for planting vegetables and medicinal plants. Small cans are used in gardens  to help retain the soil at the top of their stone walls.

Due to lack of water in the community, available water is optimized. Rainwater is harvested and grey water from washing clothes is reused to clean the pig pens before finally being channeled to the garden.

These initiatives are not documented by government, but definitely contribute towards reducing the wastes which need to be collected and transported to dumpsites. Hopefully, these efforts would soon be recognized, and these indigenous experts be tapped as valuable partners in solving Baguio's garbage problem.