We've got worms! (and catfish)

Recently, ISDSI has undertaken several projects to turn our waste into useful byproducts in an effort to reduce our environmental footprint around the institute. These include the creation of a worm bin, a catfish tank, and the utilization of bokashi around the office.

Worm bin: Vermicomposting is a method by which food scraps (including but not limited to fruit and vegetable residues, rice, coffee grounds, and eggshells) are given to worms, which then eat the scraps and turn them into nutrient-rich worm castings. These worm castings are an excellent soil amendment and the juice that collects in the bottom of the bin (or cement ring in our context) is a power-packed fertilizer for our plants.

Catfish: We are raising catfish in cement rings to become a protein source for our own consumption. Catfish are a very low maintenance omnivorous fish with a low dissolved oxygen (DO) requirement, and the ability to eat plants as well as insects (such as our red wigglers from the worm bin). In addition to the consumption of our fish as an occasional protein source, the fish water in the tank is another excellent fertilizer for use on our gardens.

Bokashi: Bokashi is a method by which food scraps not suitable for our worms or traditional compost (oily, greasy, or meat filled foods – much like the curries we eat with rice here in Thailand) can be fermented and then added as a soil amendment. A plastic bucket is a suitable vessel for layering the food scraps with rice bran and effective microbes (EM) into a stench-free fermeneted media that can then be buried in the ground.

Acting together, these three simple projects will help to turn our waste into usable byproducts for fertilizing our gardens and providing the occasional protein.

-Abram

Here are a few photos to give you an idea of what it looks like.