November 5th, 2017
The Worm Man BLOG
https://thewormman.com.au/the-worm-man-blog/
Hi everyone! Today in the BLOG, I want to tell you about someone extraordinary that needs a little bit of help . . .
I see a lot of worm farms and worm farmers in my dealings with the public facebook groups and the Worm Farming Alliance.
So, when I meet someone who is REALLY doing something different, it makes me sit up and take notice.
Rowin Snijder, also known as “Le Compostier” is such a person.
Rowin first came to my attention as someone of interest when I found out what his take on worm farms and helping the environment is.
You see, he builds “Worm HOTELS” and install them in community gardens and places like apartments (from what I understand).
This means he helps divert waste from landfills and supplies a valuable soil amendment back into the soil. Add to this that he does the all-important thing of EDUCATING people about worm farming and waste diversion.
Well, after watching his journey for quite some time now, he contacted me to ask for help to shout his new vision to the rooftops.
You see, he is trying to raise some funds to showcase 10 of these “Worm Hotels” in his city of Amsterdam.
By his calculations, these 10 units will divert 40,000 kg of waste per YEAR (that’s 88,000 lbs for our USA friends !).
So – full disclosure – he IS asking for donations – but the power of crowdfunding means if you can donate just a few dollars, that will add up to something worthwhile.
From what I understand of crowdfunding, at certain levels of donation, there are some material rewards (but you will have to check that out yourself).
Another GREAT WAY that you can help, even if you cannot donate, is to SHARE this post into your facebook or other social media feed, or into any group that it may interest. In this way we can help spread Rowin’s message.
I fully support what Rowin is doing. He is educating people about waste diversion, food waste, worm farming and making valuable soil amendments. It is something we should all do as much as we can. This sort of thing COULD help to save our earth.
The Design:
Rowin has designed these units from the ground up.
They are a “Continuous Flow Through” worm farm.
The units have a neat garden built in the top of them – and I’m sure he built one into a water feature/water garden too.
He has several options on the size of the units and how they operate.
He has smaller ones for places that cannot have a full sized unit, or where they do not want to use the VC “in house”. From those he will collect the partly finished materials on his electric cargo bike to be finished at his premises.
This is also how he will collect the VC from places that do not want to use it – for distribution to others that are keen on using it.
Here are some photos of Rowin and his Worm Hotels:
Picture 1: Rowin Snijder – installing worm hotel at Restaurant As – Amsterdam
Picture 2: Rowin Snijder – installing worm hotel at Community Complex Nieuw & Meer – Amsterdam
Picture 3: Urban Composter with viewing window at Community Complex Nieuw & Meer – Amsterdam
Picture 4: Urban Composter viewing window
Picture 5: Street corner Composter at Josef Israelkade – Amsterdam, one of the first Community Composting initiatives.
To see a short film (English subtitles) see here:
To check out the Crowd funding campaign: (text is in both English and dutch – buttons in English – scroll down for the english text)
https://voorjebuurt.nl/en/projects/wormenhotel/plan
Here is what Rowin wrote back to me after I asked him a few questions:
Hi Brian,
Here the answer to your questions, and the image is attached.
The worm hotels will be operated by the staff of the restaurants, but we will help them get used to it. We go by for regular checks and show how to feed & maintain the furniture. After some time the idea is that the staff will use the furniture on their own. We will show how to harvest the compost the first time. Idea is that the chefs will harvest the compost later. But if they want we can continue to do so, when we agree on a service contract.
The wormhotels are CFT, so in on top, out on the bottom. But for restaurants with limited space we are offering a smaller version, where side panels can also be removed. We then pick up the half composted material and finish the composting on our in-town location where we have bigger wormbeds and will finish the composting. For this we need a strong electric cargo bike (also part of the crowdfunding).
The garden on top of the Wormhotel can be moved back and allows for bigger amounts of waste to be put in at once. In the garden herbs and edible flowers can grow.
The pilot is to let restaurants experience how the worm hotels help reduce waste and make the most beautiful vermicompost for their gardens. The restaurants are paying by contributing meals and workshops to the backers of the crowdfund., In this way guests are helping the restaurant make the transition. Many restaurants have contracts with waste management companies and cannot just break them. They also want to know for sure this works before considering changing the way they treat waste at their organization. This trial will help convince chefs that vermicomposting is a good option.
After the year trial the restaurant can buy the wormhotel for a reduced price. With that money we can build new wormhotels and let the network grow.
The VC is used in the garden of the restaurant to grow food. When the restaurant has too much or does not have a garden we collect the VC and distribute it in the city for food production. This can be via small shops, or bigger Urban Farm projects. We are also making our own compost (stadsoogst.org) that we sell and offer as reward in the crowdfunding.
Here is some text from Rowin’s media releases:
From the “Thunderclap” campaign:
In the city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, organic waste is mostly not treated in a sustainable way! We are opening the first hotel chain for composting worms to give city restaurants a tool to compost their organic waste & use rich vermicompost in their gardens to grow food.
Together we can save 40,000 kg valuable organic waste & give urban food production a boost!
From “The new initiative”:
Compost à la Carte: the Circular Kitchen
For millions of years worms have worked the top layer of our planet to provide loose and fertile soil. This top layer in which we grow our food has been eroded in the last decades and needs our help. By composting organic waste in the city we can add value back to the soil, and in this manner make a circular city.
Worm hotels for restaurants and hotels offer chefs a tool to make their kitchens more sustainable. Inside a worm hotel compost worms work together with other useful micro-organisms to turn organic waste into a high quality product: worm compost. Healthy food can be grown in the city with this compost, and we can close a gap in our our food cycle.
Composting Worms Take a Place at the Table: Le Compostier will place 10 worm hotels at restaurants in and around Amsterdam in 2018. The first worm hotels will together process at least 40,000kg of organic waste into rich vermicompost.
Pilot Project: We’re crowdfunding this pilot in order to give restaurants the chance to ‘taste’ how worm hotels work. Your support for this crowdfunding will make it possible for professional chefs to experience a worm hotel as a sustainable solution for the organic waste of restaurants in the city.
How Will it Work?
10 restaurants will receive worm hotels on trial for a year in order to experience how a worm hotel makes their kitchens circular. The Le Compostier team will guide the process and ensure that everything runs smoothly. When the compost is ready, we’ll bike there to harvest it. This will then be used in the garden of the restaurant, or delivered back to food producers in the region.
By showing how easy composting on location at restaurants is we hope to inspire other restaurants in Amsterdam as well as in other cities. We will share the (knowledge) gathered during this pilot and learn how we can make restaurants circular together.
Give back to the Soil for a Healthy City
In nature the soil is fed by the organic material that falls on the ground. The soil-food-web (all the organisms that work together in and on top of the soil) feeds on this organic material, and this keeps the soil healthy. The more complex the soil-food-web is, the greater the biodiversity and capacity to grow healthy food, which in turn feeds ecosystems above the ground.
More and more people live in cities. Cities are built on places where the soil is fertile. We now have less fertile soil on our planet available for food production. By composting together we can make fertile soil, for a fertile future in the city.
—
Rowin Snijder
Designer & Consultant
Le Compostier
Tel: 06 – 386 94 395
Email: [email protected]
So anyway – enough from me – go take a look at his crowd funding campaign if you will – and if you cannot do anything else – just help Spread The Worm (word 😉 )
That link again, to check out the Crowfunding campaign: (text is in both english and dutch – buttons in english – scroll down for the english text)
https://voorjebuurt.nl/en/projects/wormenhotel/plan
So this ends my post today – thanks very much for reading my blog – and HAPPY WORMING.
Regards,
Brian Donaldson
TheWormMan.com.au
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