1.9 Million Worms Chomp Down Airport Waste in North Carolina
Posted By Tafline Laylin On December 19, 2012 @ 8:01 am In carousel showcase,News,Recycling initiatives | No Comments
The Charlotte Douglas International Airport [4] in North Carolina has deployed 1.9 million worms to turn a boatload of organic waste into fertilizer [5]. Every day the airport housekeeping department headed by Bob Lucas processes 2.5 tons of waste, including plastic, clothing, aluminum [6] and food tossed out by rushed passengers, NPR reports. The recyclables are pulled out from the pile and sold and the organic waste is transferred to a giant composting bin where the army of red wigglers go to work.
The worms are stored in a 50 foot long composting bin, where they happily chomp down on food waste that has spent a few days in a tank to accelerate the decomposition process. The resulting fertilizer [7] is used to nourish the facility’s flower beds and shrubs.
The airport’s new recycling program cost $1.2 million to implement four months ago, but already 70% of its waste has been diverted from the landfill [8]. And in five years, they expect to start making a profit from their trash sales. Katherine Preston, environmental affairs director for Airports Council International-North America, told NPR that this is the first such composting and recycling program that she knows of.
Via NPR [9]
Images of red wigglers [10] in compost, sorting recyclables [11], Shutterstock
Article printed from Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/1-9-million-worms-eat-chomp-down-airport-waste-in-north-carolina/
URLs in this post:
[1] Tweet: http://twitter.com/share
[2] Share on Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/share
[3] Email: mailto:?subject=http://inhabitat.com/1-9-million-worms-eat-chomp-down-airport-waste-in-north-carolina/
[4] Charlotte Douglas International Airport: http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/Airport/Pages/default.aspx
[5] organic waste into fertilizer: http://inhabitat.com/tag/composting/
[6] plastic, clothing, aluminum: http://inhabitat.com/recycled-materials/
[7] The resulting fertilizer: http://inhabitat.com/watering-can-designed-for-fertilizing-plants-with-human-urine/
[8] diverted from the landfill: http://inhabitat.com/tag/landfill/
[9] NPR: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/12/18/167529920/one-airports-trash-is-2-million-worms-treasure
[10] red wigglers: http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-40934725/stock-photo-red-worms-in-compost-bait-for-fishing.html?src=csl_recent_image-2
[11] sorting recyclables: http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-108327635/stock-photo-rubbish-recycling-in-your-own-house-closeup.html?src=csl_recent_image-1
Click here to print.