What weighs 86 pounds, eats all its fruits and vegetables and lives at The Evergreen School in Shoreline?

2005 Archived News

The latest addition to The Evergreen School campus – the "Worm WigWam" – is helping students learn the value of turning waste into resources.

A member of King County's On-Site Food Waste Composting pilot program, the Evergreen School in Shoreline is participating in a three year project designed to monitor the effectiveness and feasibility of commercial food waste composting. The school has recently begun using a small Worm WigWam vermicomposting system to compost the majority of the fruit and vegetable scraps from student lunches.

"We are teaching awareness that recycling can be done to create usable products. Worm bin compost will be used in the school's gardens," said Sue Stillman, 5th grade teacher at The Evergreen School. On average, the school diverts 6.3 pounds of food waste per week or over 340 pounds per year.

The Worm WigWam looks a lot like a backyard yardwaste composting bin but it has an insulated layer around the sides and metal grates ~1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the system on which the composting material rests. Worms wriggle endlessly through the composting material creating a nutrient rich product to be used on the school gardens. Turning a crank on the side of the Worm WigWam releases the finished compost into the area at the bottom of the system, under the grates. The finished compost can then be pulled out and used.

"The Evergreen School is one of our community's environmental leaders," said Councilmember Carolyn Edmonds. "The school has again taken the lead by being part of this pilot program to monitor its daily food waste and share its experiences with the county. This opportunity provides them with a wonderful educational tool for helping students understand the natural food cycle. I'm an constantly impressed by their ability to further improve their excellent record as a resource efficient school."

"On Earth Day this year, King County Executive Ron Sims presented The Evergreen School with a Green Globe Award, King County's most prestigious environmental award," said Kinley Deller, manager of the King County compost project. "From composting school lunch leftovers to installing an efficient irrigation system for the school's play fields, Evergreen has taken many great steps toward sustainability to earn this award. They are doing a tremendous job preparing our youth to become natural stewards of the region."

Food composting provides additional environmental benefits by transforming a former waste product into a beneficial resource that improves soil quality and surface water quality. Because food waste makes up 14.6 percent of the solid waste stream in King County, utilizing this resource for a higher use can effectively reduce the overall amount of material being landfilled.

The pilot program, which has assisted 14 schools and businesses in acquiring relatively small-scale in-vessel (fully enclosed) composting systems, plans to produce educational case studies. These will be shared with other King County businesses and schools as well as with municipalities wishing to undertake similar programs around the country.

The Solid Waste Division's pilot program will continue for another one and a half years, compiling data from this pilot program and then making the data available to anyone interested. If you would like to know more about this program, please contact Kinley Deller at 206-296-4434 or kinley.deller@kingcounty.gov. Information on the program can also be found on-line at http://www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/foodwaste/onsite/index.asp.