Bus-stop worm farm buried
It’s possibly the most Wellingtonesque crime imaginable – operating an illegal worm farm in a council bus stop.
Now, perpetrator Martin Wilson has been asked to stop, and he is calling on Wellington City Council to cease talking about sustainability, and start supporting initiatives like his.
The Aro Valley project began with the removal of large quantities of weeds that had being growing across the bus-stop waiting area on the junction of Aro St and Raroa Rd.
Over a four-month period, Wilson set up four bathtubs to house his worms. He didn’t dare advertise their presence because he would get more compost than he could handle.
‘‘This is the perfect place for [the worm farm], and I’m hoping we will be able to reinstate it soon. Negotiations are ongoing.’’
The project has cost Wilson $1000 but he is in the process of emptying the bathtubs and moving his wheelie bins off-site as he does not have a permit to operate in a council road reserve.
Wilson regularly spends the weekend churning mulch for the farm or distributing the soil his ‘‘beautiful worms’’ create. Worm urine, which conveniently runs from the tubs’ plugholes, was heavily sought after as fertiliser, he said. He was driven by concern over the impact of greenhouse gases produced from landfilled organic waste. According to a 2016 waste assessment, organics made up roughly a third of the materials going to landfill by weight. ‘‘Everyone should be doing everything we can, or climate change is likely to end Western civilisation,’’ Wilson said.
He invited the council to do two things: provide land for community composting and worm farms; and compile a go-to resource detailing all of the city’s hygiene rules and other regulations on one page for private and commercial composters.
Councillor Iona Pannett, who holds the city’s infrastructure and sustainability portfolio, said the council’s goal was to cut waste by a third over the next eight years but any community efforts had to be permitted and sustainable.
‘‘They have to be a permanent solution and not just something for a year while someone has some time.’’
The council was investigating the trial of an organic waste bin. Staff were choosing a trial suburb that offered a mixed demographic and topography for the possible service, which would operate like the city’s rubbish and recycling collections.
The council already had a guide for those wishing to compost.
When it came to caring for his squirmy charges, Wilson said it was not as simple as chucking in food scraps. ‘‘Worms like it moist, not wet but not dry. They like a lot of carbon; that’s basically just dry material. If it’s only compost, you get sludge.’’
Done right, Wilson said, a worm farm did not smell much but there would always be flies hanging around so it was a hobby best conducted far away from houses.
He had a Goodnature trap set up nearby to keep rats at bay.
A tumbler also let residents compost lemon and onion peels – two products worms avoid.