The Original Trash to Treasure

By Lauren Brown

Do you want to meet the worms?

Walk into Connor Morris house and you are likely to receive this invitation, delivered with an
impish grin. Morris uses his bare hands to churn what looks like a filthy bucket of waste. And
thats precisely what it is.

One would never guess that sciencebrown, mushy scienceis taking place inside the
perforated Rubbermaid container. A closer look on the inside reveals a few almost-decomposed
banana peels, a barely distinguishable avocado. Stare a little longer and realize that the mixture is
moving.

Angel, he coos, somewhat lovingly and somewhat jokingly, as he picks up a squirmy worm
from the pile. It flips in his hand. He places it back with the other worms and continues
methodically turning over the food scraps and worm poo. Not glamorous, but the alternative is
worse.

Ive heard that 30 percent of waste all humans produce goes to a landfill, Morris tells me. It
doesnt make sense to me to send that to a landfill. It releases gases that are harmful.

Morris noted that the world needs to create sustainable energy sources so that developing
countries can adopt those habits rather than fall into the environmental black hole that the rest of
the world is trying to climb out of. It seems monumental, yes, but individual efforts count
especially when small habit changes manifest into awareness and attitude shifts. Through
composting, you become a lot more aware of your wasteful habits and aware of your privilege of
having food, Morris says. Two summers ago, Morris interned at the Urban Ecology Center in
Milwaukee, where he met like-minded people and exercised his passion for the environment in
tangible ways. The recent Marquette University grad and current AmeriCorps employee gently
insists that anyone can compost. He started small while he was still taking classes, not even sure
that composting and college would get along. Posted on the fridge of his house is a list of
compostable itemsfood scraps like egg shells, apple cores, and celery that fell to the floor
and non-compostable items, like meat and moldy cheese.

Theres a little bit to know about composting, but it makes sense when thinking critically about
what youre dumping. There are countless resources on the web about what one can and cannot
compost, as well as knowledgeable composters around every corner. Mike Ziegler is one of those
friendly neighborhood composters, and a former Growing Power intern and former Urban
Adventure Specialist at the Urban Ecology Center. For him, composting just makes sense.

At Growing Power, Ziegler got very involved with vermicomposting, which is composting using
worms as opposed to normal composting, which relies on natural breakdown of foods. The
worms in vermicomposting speed up the process. At Growing Power, Ziegler remembers moving
five-gallon buckets of gross, smelly sludge to the compost pile. Thats where I had a little bit
more access to some of the more technical knowledge of composting, Ziegler says. So when
youre thinking about carbon and nitrogen ratios and trying to hit these goals of outcome, there
are some people there who are real smart about it.

That carbon to nitrogen ratio is key. Not enough carbonfrom things like newspapers and
cardboard toilet paper rollsand your compost pile will stink. Literally. If the ratio isnt
somewhat balanced, the compost will not break down properly.

Magazines, for example, can be recycled but not composted because of the ink and glossy paper.
The acidity of citrus can pose problems, so oranges are only fine in small amounts. Coffee
grounds and raw broccoli are good to go. Even human hair is compostable. Should an entire
banana spoil past its primewhen its surpassed even banana bread standardsdice it into
smaller tidbits so that it doesnt slow down the decomposition process.

In a world where everything is advancing, progressing, updatingeven the decomposition going

on in Morris bin of wormsits ironic that our environment is not. However, a Google search
will reveal that composting isnt as obscure and out-of-reach as one might think. If a land-locked
college student on an urban campus can recruit his roommates to participate, think of the strides
that neighborhoods can make.

Milwaukee is gaining traction as a hub for environmental efforts and a rising role model for other
urban communities. Alex Hagler, former Garden Coordinator at the Victory Garden Initiative,
experiences it. A lot of people have this impression that farming is not a city thing, he says.
We try to show people that thats wrong and that you can grow food in the city.

At Concordia Garden in Milwaukees Harambe neighborhood, Victory Garden Initiative

educates people about growing their own food and hosts cooking and garden education classes.
A good amount of Victory Garden Initiatives food scraps for compost comes from Whole
Foods, which, like many other grocery stores, must throw out good fruit because of cosmetic
imperfections. Sometimes theres just food that they cant market, they cant put out or display
it because there are blemishes, Hagler says. Sometimes theres nothing wrong with the food at
all, its just not pretty. They then collect mulch from landscaping companies and the City of
Milwaukee as a carbon source to mix with the food scraps in order to fulfill that carbon and
nitrogen ratio.

The whole business is like a local environmental symphony, weaving relationships between
small organizations, communities, individuals, and big corporations like Whole Foods. Victory
Garden Initiative helps turns local trash into treasure via composting. There are a couple of
sources we get organic waste from, Hagler explains. That organic waste includes beer mash
from Company Brewing in Riverwest and coffee beans from the local Colectivo cafes.

Even with the booming effort to compost, there is still a lot more to be done. The thing is, were
not even picking up all of it, Hagler says. Right now we only have the capacity to compost a
certain amount of food, but they have tons more food that they could compost.

The solution? Hagler says thats a good question that a lot of people in the business and small
municipal governments are asking. Right now its definitely more on a micro scale, Hagler
says. Personally I kind of like the idea of it staying on a local scale. He explained that it might
be more efficient for a big company to take over the composting business, but he thinks it would
be better for folks to compost on a neighborhood scale. Which shouldnt be too far-fetched.

Ziegler pointed out that composting is accessible to every walk of life. It doesnt require money
or formal education, just some tipswhich friendly environmental enthusiasts at places like
Growing Power, Victory Garden Initiative, or Urban Ecology Center will be more than happy to
offerand a curiosity about reducing food waste. Growing Power even collaborated with a
housing unit across the street, collecting compostable food scraps from the people living there.
According to Ziegler, the project garnered a positive reaction from the participants, mainly
because it was practical. I would say on a floor of 40 apartments, 10 to 15 participated in the
program, which I think is a decently high number, he says. They were like, Oh, I was just
going to throw it out anyways. Its cool to know its going to a good use.

Ziegler now has two compost bins in his own basement. A fellow worm lover like Morris,
Ziegler shows off his worms. In one particular instance, Ziegler was showing the compost bin to
his five-year-old neighbor.

Are the worms boy worms or girl worms? she asked him.

Not wanting to explain the hermaphroditic nature of worms to his five-year-old neighbor, Ziegler
said, Well, there are probably some girl worms in there.

Ok, ok, the girl said, turning towards the mommy worms. Happy Mothers Day!

Ziegler tells that cute story with a laugh, but it brings up an interesting point. Composting is
fascinating, to the point where worms can be personified and considered part of the family. Even
if a composter doesnt feel particularly connected to his or her worms, theres definitely a
relationship established between composter and the earth. Morris and his roommates get it. Once
you start thinking about everything you throw in the trashor perhaps dont throw in the trash
you become more aware of your footprint.
Even though its hopeful thinking to think Ill change the world by composting in my basement,
Ive recognized that my individual actions wont make that big of a difference, Morris admits.
But when people become more aware of their wasteful habits, our society will begin to shift.
He pauses, mulling that over. Reaffirming his thoughts, he says, When an individual takes on
that thinking, it causes a shift in society.