Did you know that SGH is raising an army of worms at our Bicentennial Garden?

These verocious soldiers gobble up 6kg of food scraps every week and excrete nutrient-rich “worm poop” also known as worm castings, which are absolutely nutritious for plants.

“We use the worm castings to fertilise our plants and fruit trees on SGH Campus. Recycling food waste this way helps to reduce demand for landfill so that land in land-starved Singapore can be put to better use,” says Lee Peishi from SGH Environmental Services (ES).

Peishi started her little pet project in March 2021 during a discussion on sustainability and zero-waste recycling.

She knew a group of wormkeepers and one of them gave her a cup of worms and another gave her a worm house. That was how she started her first worm bin.

Let’s follow Peishi to see how she rears her little soldiers, as she called them!

Step 1: Collect waste matter
 
When departments at SGH Block 8 relocated to SingHealth Tower, Peishi and her ES team salvaged the shelves and containers. They used them to expand the dwelling of their worm army.

Step 2: Feed worms
 
Our ES colleagues collect and bring eggs shells, fruits and vegetable scraps to feed the worms.  Each week, the team feeds the worms 6kg of food scraps. The worms then produce worm castings which are used to fertilise the plants and trees.

Step 3: Sieve worm castings
 
The team sieve the worms and castings in an upcycled mikrozid tub. They collect 4kg of worm castings every month this way.

Step 4: Fertilising
 
They then use these worm castings as nutrients to fertilise SGH’s trees and plants.

Step 5: Bountiful harvest
 
Some of our papaya, chiku and banana trees have bore fruits. After we eat these fruits, we feed the fruit peels to the earthworms. Viola, the cycle is completed!

Want to be part of such sustainable efforts? You can find like-minded colleagues in the SGH Workplace group Let’s Go GREEN Today!

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