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Title: Composting with worms
Location:
Categories: Environment & Urbanization
Learning & Education
Children’s Rights
Status:
In Planning
Timeline:
Ongoing
Description:
The project is designed to produce compost through the setting up of vermin-composting unit that promotes the use of local materials in environmental protection. The unit will be erected at the Goodwill Secondary School and we be managed by the Young Environmental Protectors Club (YEP Club) and monitored by the Extension Officers of the Division of Agriculture as well as officials of the National Association of Youth in Agriculture.
Demarcated bins will be set up in the school compound and students will be encouraged to sort out their organic wastes. These bins will serve as the major collection tool for organic material to be composted. The general school community will be advised to use these bins especially during the ‘fruit’ days. The fruit day will be a day in the week when students will be encouraged to consume mainly local fruits as part of their break time during the school hours.
Members of the YEP Club will also be encouraged to collect small amounts of household waste if needed. The compost collected from the bins will be used in landscaping the school compound in support of the school beautification. Members of the Club will also be encouraged to manage small vermi-composting bins in their various communities.
Background:
Composting is as old as the soil itself. It’s nature’s way of recycling nutrients and organic matter back into the soil for use by new and growing plants. In this cycle, nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. Besides the provision of nutrients for plants, compost (humus) contributes other features to soil quality such as improvement of soil tilth, providing an environment for growth of beneficial organisms and helping to maintain moisture levels within the soil. Compost has also been very instrumental in the managing of agricultural and household wastes.
In the context of Dominica, composting was always a rural activity because of the collection system of our wastes. The advent of the skips changed the way garbage was disposed and as such garbage management became the responsibility of the Environmental Health Department and subsequently the Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation. The Corporation became aware of the need to change the collection system and returned to the old system of collection and as such public management of the garbage system has become a necessity.
Composting and vermin-composting technologies have expanded beyond being a backyard activity and has become a very scientific activity that involves the manipulation of natural decomposition that results in a quicker decomposition process, and a more uniformed product.
The many significant benefits that composting provides to the area of waste management are perfectly complimented by need of agriculture to sustain the fertility and productivity of the soil. While waste managers are focused mainly on saving space in their landfills compost links their efforts with the needs of the farming community to produce positive effects for all those involved in making and using the material.
Objectives:
The aim of the project is to sensitise youth on the role that composting plays in waste management and in soil fertility as it relates to environmental protection. Secondarily, but equally important objects include:
1. To educate the school community on the benefits of composting and their role in environmental protection;
2. To establish farmer linkages with the community in relation to organic vegetable production;
3. To establish one vermin-composting unit;
Milestones:
The principal output will be one (1) functioning vermin-composting facility;
• geared towards the composting of vegetable and fruit waste;
Other outputs include:
1. The understanding of vermi-composting and manipulations that can assist in waste management.
2. Increased youth participation in environmental activities;
3. Increased awareness among the youth and general community about waste management as it relates to soil fertility.
Budget:
EC$500.00
Needs:
lumber, nails, wire mesh, drums, paint, worms, shovels, plastic bags, gloves
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