I would like to dispose of food waste other than putting it in the zuribags. We don't have a garden so composting is not an option. We do have a big balcony and in the UK you can buy wormeries - I haven't been able to find one here - is it too cold for the worms?

There are little green compost boxes you can get in the DIY & garden shops. Not sure how they work though. Here in Lausanne we have public brown trash things for this purpose. Maybe you have those too somewhere?

I know this might sound shady, but i put it into a puppy bag... and throw it into the city trash cans that line the street... we here in chur pay a fee for that eitherway......

Toilet? Obviously not after the prescribed time!

That's not really recycling. Those puppy bags just go in the regular trash/incinerator

I don't know about wormeries. The city recommends to put food waste in the Züri bag for the households who don't have access to a compost. They've organised a study last year and enhancing the compost collection or introducing a food waste system doesn't make economical or ecological sense (Source).

My first apartment here in Baden had green wheelie bins for food waste, collected weekly.

I didn't realise until I moved next door, with my bedroom on the other side of the house, that the bins were probably the source of the mosquitoes I had been plagued with.

Maybe someone nearby with a garden would let you put in their compost bin? At least then it's being recycled. In our building we have a shared compost bin so those with only a balcony just have to pop downstairs and throw their waste in.

Folks,

I'm wondering has anyone got any more information on this topic as I live in ticino so no compost collection at all and just have a balcony. Seen wormeries (Can-O-worms) and the like on internet but sofar no source in Switzerland, went to jumbo and all they had were regular composters. Has anyone found a shop (online or offline) selling wormeries or composters suitable for putting on a deck/balcony? I travel back and forth to Schaffhausen and Zurich a lot so if anyone knows shops in those areas too that would be great.

Thanks!
Orla

I'd be interested too. As we are going to start our gardening adventure soon, a wormery would be just the ticket. We saw one last year in Australia, the fluid that comes out at the end is exceptionally nutritious for your plants apparently.

A company in Grossdietwil called Andermatt Biogarten is selling a "Wurmkomposter" for Fr. 210, they'll sell you 250g of worms to go with it for Fr. 35.50. Website is www.biogarten.ch
They also sell kits for rearing butterflies!

Happy composting!

I brought my junior original organics (junior OO) wormery over from the UK and it lived happily on my balcony during the Summer. However, I brought it inside over Winter and all the worms died. It might have been because of the underfloor heating, a quick change in temperature, my tissues with nasal spray in them (I had had a cold and threw the tissues unthinkingly in my bin) or some other mistake.

Having said that, I think worms will do fine here. If you do a search for Junior OO I am sure you will find somewhere on the internet that would post it to you. I bought mine over the internet and the worms came through the post as well.

Apparently, worms are one of the few things you can actually carry onto an aeroplance, in case you have a brave friend visiting who wants to try something different while travelling!

Thanks for the Swiss link for wormeries as I need to restock my wormery in Spring.

I've just moved from San Diego, CA to Lugano and have been wondering about the same thing.

At home I had a worm bin that I built for maybe $10 US that worked magically. The tea {liquid that comes from the bin when you water it} is a FANTASTIC fertilizer, even better than the compost itself.

This was my third worm bin, gave one to a friend just starting an organic garden like mine, and one to my mom. They work great and it's amazing how much food those worms eat. It's not smelly or dirty at all. The important things:
a. use redworms NOT earthworms or night crawlers. They need to be small, red, worms.
b. cover the food with damp newspaper or something. You can't let the food sit on top of the worms, that's how it gets smelly and rotten. All of the food needs to be "underground".

Here's a link for building one, mine was even less complicated: http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Easywormbin.htm

You can also just google something like "building a worm bin" and there are a billion do-it-yourself websites that are great.

Good luck!

Can you really? It's an honest question, I'm going to the States in two weeks and would bring back some worms from my family's bin if that's true. Where'd you hear it? thanks!

We had a wormery (can-o-worms) in the UK but couldn't bring it with us when we moved as we couldn't import them (or so the removal firm said - perhaps they just didn't want it on the truck !!)

I would check out whether you can bring worms into Switzerland from anywhere else before you try - it could end in tears. Investigating a Swiss wormery option might be more successful. Worms are not like domestic pets that can be quarantined for the requisite time and then imported.

We dispose of kitchen waste (veg peelings and the like) in the green bin that gets collected by the gemeinde. There are potential problems with vermin if you put in cooked meat, so we restrict our composting to fruit & veg peelings, tea bags, coffee grounds etc.

This has some basic information:

http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/life...BB92sGFF809CD8:

Hope that helps.

If you have children why not let them lose in the garden and let them collect worms for you my kids love bringing me all sorts of things from the garden including worms. The kids will have fun and you get free worms

First welcome to Lugano, we just moved to Lugano at the end of December from Ohio.

This looks like a fun project for the kids.

Do you know if it is OK to use office paper scraps instead of newspaper?

Hi miranda.celeste,

must thank you for the info you gave on the worm bins, both economical and ecological, excellent!! You've solved a real niggle that has been annoying me for ages, cheers!

Ros

Oh, by the by, I wouldn't worry about importing any, as it says in the link you provided, you can quickly and easily cultivate your own supply by placing wet corrugated cardboard on the ground and start from there,good luck.
Otherwise, once I get started and have enough, I'll give some if you don't have the opportunity to do this for yourself. Just send me a message if you need some.

Thanks again.

Edit; To ARANNKB, I read in one of the links provided that shredded/scrap paper from the office is fine to use.

Hi! How old are your kids? I'm here working as a nanny and always looking for english-speaking playmates for Jack, who just turned 5. You can totally use office scraps. Nothing glossy (magazines, postcards), everything else is okay. Seriously, I would love to set up a play date if your kids are around that age! Message me!

Thanks,

Miranda

Yes, at least you can from the UK. I remember looking it up on BAA's website or somewhere because someone on a worm forum that I belong to told me it was possible and I didn't believe them. It's possible to take small pets on board a plane as well.

I couldn't find the worm information, but here's some stuff on pets:
http://www.glasgowairport.com/portal...0357e120a____/


The removal people refused to take my worms, though, because they weren't allowed to transport "livestock". However, I just "forgot" to tell them that it was a worm bin when they arrived to take my stuff and it got loaded onto the van and transported over without a problem. Actually, I think I did tell them but just mentioned it as if it was obvious that they would take it on board and no fuss was made. I can't remember if they put it on the inventory.

The removal people did warn me that while waiting between picking my stuff up and delivering it, the van would get very hot, so that might also be a reason (for insurance purposes) that they don't take "livestock" because they can't guarantee safety or live delivery.

If you want to be absolutely sure about taking worms as hand luggage on a plane, I would perhaps check the airport website and it might be worth just phoning them beforehand just to double-check. I've never seen anyone do it, but I think it would be fun just to see how the person sitting next to you reacts!