Earthworm Canteen

Blair
Jun 23, 2022
2 min read

The earthworm canteen tackles food waste and promotes natural recycling.

The earth is a huge ecosystem where plants, animals and humans live together, but the environment is not as beautiful as it seems.

Food waste is a common problem. Human society produces a lot of unwanted food every day, such as scraps of ingredients from restaurants, unsold sandwiches and bread from convenience stores, and food that has expired. It is a sad fact that all these food items end up in the garbage.

Biodegradation is an excellent alternative, as earthworms are a major force in loosening the soil and diversifying the ecosystem, as well as eating food that is not needed by humans. When vegetables and fruits are discarded, for example, they slowly decay and become a meal for earthworms, which gather in large numbers and, after a few days, or even hours, they can finish the food. In addition, when the earthworms have finished feeding, their faeces fertilise the land so that it becomes more fertile. In the long term, people provide unwanted food, the earthworms take care of it, which then makes the soil more suitable for plants, and eventually people can grow more crops or plants, creating a perfect circle.

So we can make an earthworm canteen out of various materials (such as wood, plastic and metal). This doesn't require a particularly complicated process; the canteen can be a plastic pipe, a couple of boards joined together or a cylinder made of iron, which we can place in a park or garden, put some waste food inside and a natural canteen is complete!

In addition, neighbours can help each other afterwards, for example, some provide the materials, others do the work and people work together as a community group.

It's a meaningful activity that reduces food waste, optimises the natural environment and promotes ecological diversity, all of which can be demonstrated in small, day-to-day ways.