Glossary of Vermiculture Terms

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AERATION: Adding air to a compost pile through turning or ventilation to allow increased microbial action and decomposition.

AEROBIC COMPOSTING: A method of com-posting organic wastes using bacteria that need oxygen. This requires that the waste be exposed to air, either via turning or by forcing air through pipes that pass through the material.

ANAEROBIC: Living or active in the absence of free oxygen. In a compost bin decay speeds up with the introduction of air and water.

ANAEROBIC DIGESTION: Controlled biological decomposition of organic material in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas and a partially stabilized organic material.

BACTERIA: Microorganisms that break down organic materials in the first stages of composting. It is bacteria that generate the heat associated with hot composting. The three types of bacteria are psychrophilic, mesophilic, and thermophilic.

BIODEGRADABLE MATERIAL: Any organic material that can be broken down by microorganisms into simpler, more stable com-pounds. Most organic wastes (e.g., food, paper) are biodegradable.

BIOFILTERS: One of the technologies applied for bioremediation, a process by which unwanted substances are broken down and removed from air, soil, water and raw materials for industrial processing. Biofiltration is the process by which organic gases are cleaned by passing air through compost or soil containing microorganisms capable of degrading the gases.

BIOGAS (LANDFILL GAS): By-product of anaerobic digestion. A saturated gas consisting of approximately 55 to 70% methane, 25 to 35% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide.

BIOMASS: Any organic matter that is available on a renewable or recurring basis (excluding old-growth timber), including dedicated energy crops and trees, agricultural food and feed crop residues, wood and wood wastes and residues, aquatic plants, grasses, residues, fibers, and animal wastes, municipal wastes, and other waste materials.

BIOREACTORS: Treatment of a contaminated substance in a large tank containing organisms or enzymes.

BIOSOLIDS: 1. A nutrient rich, organic byproduct of the wastewater treatment process. 2. Old term used was "Sludge". It is the waste material from animal or vegetable sources. Waste contains mainly carbon and hydrogen.

CASTINGS: Worm manure.

COMPOST: Completely decayed organic matter. It is dark, odorless, and rich in nutrients.

COMPOSTING: 1. Controlled biological decomposition of organic material in the presence of oxygen to produce a stable, pathogen-free, humus-like material called compost.

COLD COMPOSTING/COLD PILE: When less attention is given to providing and maintaining optimum condition for compost piles, the resulting environment that will attract psychrophilic bacteria but not thermophilic bacteria. As the psychrophilic bacteria work the compost pile will reach about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the slow method of creating compost from a backyard pile and can take as long as 6 months to 2 years to create compost. However, there is little maintenance other than occasionally turning the pile. This type of compost requires the least effort.

COMPOST TEA: Residual liquid from the composting process. In outdoor compost piles or bins this leaches into the ground. Vermicomposters allow this liquid to be collected, refined, and sold as a valuable liquid fertilizer.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION DEBRIS: Waste generated by construction and demolition of buildings, such as bricks, concrete, drywall, lumber, miscellaneous metal parts and sheets, packaging materials, etc.

CURBSIDE PROGRAM: The collection of solid waste, recyclables, or other materials placed in front of the property (curbside) by the generator, who then returns the containers to their normal location after they have been emptied. Curbside collection is generally used in the collection of residential solid wastes, source-separated recyclables, and organic materials or other materials. It is not normally used in commercial, institutional, or industrial solid waste collection.

DECOMPOSITION: The breakdown of organic matter through microbial action.

DIVERSION: A term used to describe the act of inverting one or more designated materials from a solid waste stream. Diversion typically occurs at the point of generation but can also occur at waste transfer and processing facilities. The objective of diversion is to market materials for productive use and hence prevent these materials from being landfilled or otherwise permanently disposed.

DIGESTER: Tank used to contain biosolids during the anaerobic digestion process.

FEEDSTOCK: Any raw organic material used to feed worms, including the bedding in which worms live in a vermicompost bin or other system. Examples include soil, manure, coir (coconut fiber), peat moss, straw, leaves, or shredded paper. Worms can be fed any organic material, depending on the scale of the system. Examples include eggshells, coffee and tea grounds, fruit and vegetable leavings, plant clippings, paper food packaging, and waste paper. Dairy products, meat, fat, oils, human and pet manures tend to attract unwanted organisms and are usually excluded as feedstock, although they can be used in specifically designed systems. Cereal products are often marketed as worm fatteners. Be careful when adding bread to a worm bin, as the yeast in bread can significantly increase the bedding temperature and result in a massive worm meltdown or mass worm exodus from the bin.

FERMENTATION: Fermentation can be either aerobic or anaerobic. Aerobic fermentation is composting. Successful anaerobic fermentation occurs when organic compounds in vegetable and animal wastes are broken down by the action of living anaerobic organisms. This is accomplished by the combination of organic wastes with a fermentable carbohydrate source such as sugar, whey, molasses, or ground corn. Lactic-acid-forming anaerobic bacteria ferment the carbohydrate source and preserve nutrients. Pathogenic microorganisms, associated with the wastes, are effectively inactivated during the fermentation process. This makes the fermented material safe for application in agriculture.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation for a detailed description of various forms of fermentation.

FOOD WASTE, COMMERCIAL PROCESSING: Source separated food residuals produced from commercial food processing facilities. This material may consist of fruits, vegetables, grains, fish and animal byproducts, and soiled paper unsuitable for recycling.

FOOD WASTE, PRODUCE: Source separated food residuals generated at supermarkets. This material consists of food scraps and out of code items from produce, bakery, deli, prepared foods, and other departments. The material collected may include fruits, vegetables, grains, food scraps, waxed cardboard, wood, meat/seafood, and soiled paper unsuitable for recycling.

FOOD WASTE, RESTAURANT/INSTITUTION: Source separated material produced from human food preparation and consumption activities at restaurants, cafeterias, or dining halls. This material consists of fruits, vegetables, grains, food scraps, and soiled paper unsuitable for recycling.

FOOD WASTE RESIDUALS: This term refers to restaurant/institution food waste, produce food waste, and food waste from commercial processing.

GREEN WASTE: Vegetation waste left over from maintaining gardens and parks.

GROUNDWATER: Water beneath the earth's surface that fills underground pockets (known as aquifers), supplying wells and springs.

HAZARDOUS WASTE: waste that is reactive, toxic, corrosive, or otherwise dangerous to living things and/or the environment. Many industrial by-products are hazardous.

HEAVY METALS: Metals of high atomic weight and density, such as mercury, lead, and cadmium, that are toxic to living organisms.

HOT COMPOSTING (HOT PILE): Optimum conditions for compost piles, including 30:1carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, 1” or smaller particles of various sizes and textures, moisture, air, volume of 3 cubic feet, produce an environment that will attract psychrophilic, mesophilic, and then hemophilic bacteria. As the thermophilic bacteria work the compost pile will reach as high as 170 degrees F. This is the fastest method of creating compost from a backyard pile and can take as little as 3 weeks if the pile is monitored and turned each time the temperature starts to fall.

HUMUS: The end product of composting, also called compost.

INCINERATION: The process of burning solid waste under controlled conditions to reduce its weight and volume, and often to produce energy.

INORGANIC WASTE: Waste composed of material other than plant or animal matter, such as sand, dust, glass, and many synthetics.

INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT: The complementary use of a variety of practices to handle municipal solid waste safely and effectively. Integrated waste management techniques include source reduction, recycling, composting, combustion, and landfilling.

LANDFILL: Term for a garbage dump which is located in a cavity in the ground so that, when full, it may be covered up and look like part of the land. Today’s landfills are sanitary and require special technology to eliminate the methane gas and toxic leachate produced by the garbage.

MEDICAL WASTE: Generally defined as any solid waste that is generated in the diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals, in research pertaining thereto, or in the production or testing of biologicals.

MICROORGANISM: These are microscopic plants and animals. They exist in the soil for the purpose of breaking down organic matter into basic mineral elements (see mineralization). They include bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, algae, protozoa, yeast, germs, ground pearls, and nematodes.

MUNICIPAL LANDFILL: Piece of land where household waste and/or treated domestic sewage biosolids are disposed.

MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE: All solid waste generated in an area except industrial and agricultural wastes. Sometimes includes construction and demolition debris and other special wastes that may enter the municipal waste stream. Generally excludes hazardous wastes except to the extent that they enter the municipal waste stream. Sometimes defined to mean all solid wastes that a city authority accepts responsibility for managing in some way.

N-P-K: An abbreviation for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). In the chemical philosophy, these three elements are considered important to force crop production (as opposed to the organic philosophy goal of improving the biodiversity of the soil). US law requires that the ratio of these three elements be specified on every bag of commercially-available fertilizer. A ratio of 3-1-2 or 4-1-2 is considered good.

ON-SITE COMPOSTING: Composting done at the site where it is generated.

OFF-SITE COMPOSTING: Composting which is done away from the site where it is generated.

ORGANIC: 1. Of or relating to or derived from living organisms. 2. Organic also refers to organic foods, or foods raised according to standards of organic agriculture, including the use of crop rotation to control plant diseases and pests and to allow rejuvenation of soil nutrients; additionally, the use of nonsynthetic fertilizers such as to build soil structure and microbial life as the basis for strong plants. Where necessary, nonsynthetic pesticides may be used according to standards adopted by committees established at the state and national levels to certify foods as “organic”. 3. A fertilizer that is derived from vegetable or animal matter.

ORGANIC WASTE: Any waste material that was once alive. For the purposes of vermicomposting, this usually excludes human waste, accept where a composter is specially dedicated and monitored.

PATHOGEN: An organism including viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoa capable of producing an infection or disease in a susceptible host.

pH: A scale of 1-14, which expresses the relative acidity or alkalinity of water in the soil. A pH of 7 is neutral, i.e. neither more alkaline or more acidic. Values below 7 are acidic, increasingly acidic towards 1. Values above 7 are alkaline, increasingly more alkaline as the values increase towards 14. pH is the standard abbreviation for “potential hydrogen”, which denotes the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution.

PSYCHROPHILIC BACTERIA: This group of bacteria species works to break down organic matter under “cold conditions” of 0 to up to over 55 degrees. They generate low levels of heat.

RECYCLABLES: Items that can be reprocessed into feedstock for new products. Common examples are paper, glass, aluminum, corrugated cardboard, and plastic containers.

RECYCLING: The process of transforming materials into raw materials for manufacturing new products, which may or may not be similar to the original product.

RENEWABLE ENERGY: A form of energy which is regenerative or virtually inexhaustible. Typical examples are wind, geothermal, and water power. Energy can also be generated from biomass fuels such as wood and forest residues, animal manure and waste, grains, crops and aquatic plants.

SANITARY LANDFILL: A landfill permitted to accept household and commercial waste (solid and liquid non-hazardous waste).

SOIL AMMENDMENT: Matter that, when added to the land, will make the soil healthier by such means as balancing and adding nutrients, balancing the pH, encouraging the process of microorganisms. From a legal standpoint this is different than “fertilizer” and is not governed by laws which regulate fertilizers.

SOURCE REDUCTION: As applied to solid waste, reducing the generation of waste in the first place, as opposed to later reusing or recycling.

SOURCE SEPARATION: In homes or commercial operations waste is separated into categories for recycling, composting, or landfilling. Source separation refers to separating newspapers, glass, yard wastes, plastic bottles, etc. into separate containers or piles for waste processing.

STABILIZATION: To convert to a form that resists change. In the waste industry this term is used to refer to heavy metals, pathogens, nutrients, and other substances present in organic waste which become inert and unlikely to be taken up by plants or leached into the water table or air.

THERMOPHILIC BACTERIA: This group of bacteria species works to break down organic matter under “hot” conditions of 104 degrees up to 170 degrees. This type of bacteria can perform the greatest decomposition in the shortest period of time.

TIPPING FEE: A fee for unloading or dumping waste at a landfill, transfer station, incinerator, or recycling facility.

TRANSFER STATION: A major facility at which MSW from collection vehicles is consolidated into loads that are transported by larger trucks or other means to more distant final disposal facilities, typically landfills.

VERMICAST: The nutrient –rich byproduct of earthworms, used as a soil conditioner.

VERMICOMPOST: 1. The process by which earthworms digest organic matter. 2. The soil-like byproduct resulting from worms digesting organic matter, which can in turn be applied to plants.

VERMICULTURE: The raising and production of earthworms and their byproducts.

WASTE REDUCTION: All means of reducing the amount of waste that is produced initially and that must be collected by solid waste authorities. This ranges from legislation and product design to local programs designed to keep recyclables and compostables out of the final waste stream.

WASTE STREAM: The total flow of waste from a community, region, or facility.

WASTE TO ENERGY (WTE): The conversion and recovery of the energy value in waste materials through the application of high temperature and controlled combustion.

WINDROWS: Long, raised rows of organic material and dirt in which worms feed. Windrows may be covered or covered, indoor or outdoor, and are associated with large-scale vermiculture.

WORM FARMING: Vermiculture.

WORM TEA: Liquid residual from a worm bin that can be made into a liquid plant fertilizer.

YARD TRIMMINGS FACILITY: A facility where yard trimmings are collected, diverted from the organic waste stream, and composted for use as mulch.

YARD WASTE: Leaves, grass clippings, prunings, and other natural organic matter discarded from yards and gardens.

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CREDITS
Terms included in the Glossary were adapted from the following sites:

 

Wormpost Vermont
161 Henway Road
Morristown, Vermont (VT) 05661
Phone: 802-888-4364
Email: worms@wormpost.com
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