Fertilizer from Santa Monica College's composting system is used for landscaping and the school's gardens.
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Brian Feinzimer
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Topline:
At Santa Monica College, some 400,000 red wiggler worms transform 300 pounds of campus waste into nutrient-rich soil every week.
Why it matters: The worm composting system is part of broader efforts to make the campus more sustainable, another method to address the climate emergency.
For The Half Million Worms That Chew Up Santa Monica College’s Food Waste, Thanksgiving Is Just Another Day
Every week, Kenny Derieg grinds about 300 pounds of food waste, mostly leftover fruit and vegetables gathered throughout Santa Monica College.
The grinder, he said, is “a very heavy duty, very fast spinning machine that turns any produce item you can think of into baby food.”
Derieg is the school’s recycling program specialist, and with the help of student workers, he mixes the goop with mulch and horse manure. Then, they deposit the mashed potato-like substance into two studio-sized bins. That’s where 400,000 red wiggler worms stand ready to devour it.
The worms have been at Santa Monica College since 2001 and are part of broader efforts to make the campus more sustainable, another method to address the climate emergency.
Instead of transporting this food waste to landfills — which would contribute to methane and carbon emissions — the college employs the worms to transform it into nutrient-rich fertilizer.
These “worm castings,” said Derieg, “are really special.” Not only do they take all the nutrients that were “locked up in those produce items and make them bioavailable for plants to absorb, but there are microbes and bacteria in the intestinal tract of the worms that are just magical for plants.”
The fertilizer is used for landscaping and also nurtures the school’s fruit trees and organic learning garden. And it increases the plants’ immune response and productivity, making trees, herbs, and flowers more abundant.
Derieg, Santa Monica College’s recycling program specialist, places ground vegetables into compost bins.
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More than worms
The college employs newer forms of sustainability practices, too, including changes to its infrastructure. In the middle of the quad, for instance, a 75,000-gallon cistern prevents the waste of rainwater.
“We dug up a swimming pool-sized hole, filled it with crates to give it stability, then covered it with a permeable cloth and gravel and planted grass on top of it,” said Ferris Kawar, Santa Monica College’s sustainability manager.
Students use the quad to rest, chat, or play between classes, but when it rains, “all the water from campus is diverted there, so it fills up the pool underneath the grass, and then it slowly sinks down and refills our aquifers,” Kawar said.
This is significant, he explained, because when it rains in Southern California, the water generally hits “hard surfaces and goes straight into the gutter, without a chance to soak back in.”
Elsewhere on campus, 66 solar panels convert energy from the sun into power that’s used to heat up the water in the gym showers.
The Sustainability Center at Santa Monica College.
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Sustainability advances
And it’s the school’s Sustainability Center, which provides a gathering space for environmentally conscious students and staff, that serves as the most direct example of “green” living. Nearly every feature of the building — from its construction to its furnishings — has been made with the environment’s health in mind.
The center is housed in a 1940s cottage on Pearl Street. When it was renovated in the ‘90s, Santa Monica College opted for parallam board instead of solid wood beams. Parallam boards, said Kawar, are made of wood scraps, which are compressed and held together by nontoxic glue.
These boards have a “higher carrying capacity than a solid beam of wood,” he said. “And you don't have to grow a tree in a managed forest for 20 years, and then cut it down” to get them.
At the center, these boards are left exposed, so that students can see the alternative construction material.
Staff workstations include desks made of sunflower seed board, which also serves to reduce tree consumption while repurposing waste after seeds are harvested. The center’s cabinets and blinds are made of bamboo, which regenerate much faster than hardwood trees. In the living room, the couch and carpet are made from recycled water bottles. The center’s walls are insulated with recycled wool and denim. To make sure students take in these details, the center features peek-a-boo windows, enabling them to see what’s inside the walls.
Santa Monica College provides students with robust course offerings in sustainability, including two certificates and an associate’s degree in recycling and resource management. The Sustainability Center, which features blue placards highlighting all its environmentally friendly features, embodies what’s taught in the classroom.
“When students come through this office, I want them to understand that the solutions to all the really scary world problems we have are here with us today, we don't have to invent our way out of this. We've had the solutions at our disposal for many years,” Kawar said. “We're just not choosing them.”
Desks made from recycled sunflower shells inside of the Santa Monica College Sustainability Center.
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A chance to get some sunlight
Derieg, the school’s recycling program specialist, grew up in Santa Monica and studied at the college before transferring to UCLA, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and urban planning. Still, he didn’t know about the worm system until after he returned to the college as an employee with a master’s degree in urban sustainability.
The worms are housed behind the campus bookstore, he said, “in a bit of a hidden area. Most students don't actually see what's going on back here.”
Interested in composting? Here’s how to get started:
Derieg, Santa Monica College’s recycling program specialist, has these recommendations:
Choose the right worms: Red wigglers (Eisenia fetida) are the best option.
Use an appropriate bin: Make sure the bin has multiple layers. The bottom layer is where the worm castings (poop) accumulate, the middle layer is where the worms mainly live, and the top layer is where the food is deposited. Also, make sure the bin gets air ventilation.
Use proper bedding: Coconut coir (pronounced "COY-er") and shredded newspaper are good materials for the worms. (The bins and bedding can be found online or at a home improvement store. You can also check with a local independent gardening store.)
Maintain proper conditions: Worms need their home to be moist but not too wet. The moisture level of a wrung-out sponge (damp to the touch but doesn’t drip when you squeeze it) is perfect. Worms also need the temperature to be between 55-75 degrees, so avoid direct sunlight.
Feed the worms a balanced diet: Red wigglers do not like acidic foods, and the soil can’t become too acidic, either. Avoid foods like citrus, onions, and tomatoes and prioritize foods that are alkaline or neutral in pH, such as leafy greens, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, kale, broccoli, spinach, and asparagus. Avoid giving them cooked foods, only using raw vegetables.
Chop or blend food: The smaller the food items, the quicker the worms will be able to process it.
Be patient: Vermicomposting takes time and worms will become more efficient over time as they establish their population.
The college's sustainability courses provide opportunities to learn about the worms’ work. But students can also do this through on-campus employment.
Enrique Zanotta, a film production major who plans to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, works with Derieg at the composting site. He rides around campus on a golf cart, picking up leftovers from the garden, the bodega (where students can get everything from fresh produce to diapers for free), and even the glassblowing classes.
For Zanotta, the work brings a welcome break from typical student life.
“I think it's cool that we get to be outside,” he said. “You know, sometimes a lot of classes, a lot of studying gets kind of monotonous. Here, we get to get a little sunshine, the chance to do physical work.”
On a recent November morning, Zanotta brought discarded lettuce to the composting site. Derieg added it to a pile of apples, celery, and bell peppers.
Student worker Enrique Zonneta thrusts the compost inside the worm bins at Santa Monica College.
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Brian Feinzimer
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The worms don’t like food with a lot of acid, said Derieg, so they keep things like oranges, onions, and coffee grounds to a minimum when preparing the goop.
Thanksgiving is coming up, but it’s not an especially important day for the worms. The goal is to keep them happy year round.
Still, they do partake in some holidays. After Halloween, Santa Monica College had a “huge pumpkin smashing event,” said Derieg. The worms got to feast on the scraps.
Derieg grinds vegetables before placing them into compost bins.
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Derieg shows vegetable waste that will be ground and placed into compost bins.
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Contrary to popular belief, the earth where the worms reside does not stink. Derieg inhaled the scent of the soil, comparing it to a forest floor after a fresh rain.
“Worms are a lot smarter than they get credit for,” he added. “They’re essentially the intestines of our planet.”
Then, Derieg got back to grinding discarded apples and lettuce. “Smells kind of good, right, almost like a juicery?”
