Wigglers have good taste in food and art!

by | Dec 11, 2011 | Red Wiggler World


During the Halloween season, thump coffee had a fun project for those who wanted to participate in the “Day of the Dead” art walk. They offered up markers and compostable cups to thumpers to ghoulishly decorate. Many created skulls and halloweenish themed pictures.  I collected these cups knowing red wigglers loved to chomp on them!  I weeded through the cups which were not completely covered with markers and tossed them.  I was not sure how the worms would react? Would they love them or be killed?
So with this in mind, I first soaked the cups in a bucket of water.

Then I drained the colored water and did a refill.

After about two or three batches of rinses, I called it quits and left the cups to soak for a few days. Blah, I was done!

After the soaking, I introduced the red wigglers along with established compost into the bucket with the cups.  The cups were quite moist to help with the decomposition. Can you spot the wigglers?
Finally,I covered them with a blanket of leaves to keep them cozy and warm.  They are now munching out in my garage.

Red Wigglers + Compostable Cups

by | Jun 1, 2011 | Less in the Landfill, Red Wiggler World

Today, I decided to take some pictures of my thump coffe cups in my worm bins.  The cups are 100% compostable and made from sugar cane and lined with material derived from corn.  Most of the compostable products made today are meant to be hot composted in a commercial facility, but I like to see what happens when these products are put into a cold composter like a Red Wiggler bin.

I have conducted many, many tests with compostable products.  Compostable plates, cups, utensils, and packages have been put to the test.  They are all breaking down at various rates with the plates being the quickest.  thump coffee (yes, I realize the “t” is not capitalized.  That’s their logo.  Bravo Carlos) cups are breaking down rather quickly too.

The Red Wigglers are doing fine and are not bothered by the cups.  Some days I can find them inside cleaning up the leftover coffee!