Worms, Old Food Help Environment

Composting is Helping Middletown Go Green

Help for the environment is coming from an unlikely source in Middletown - worms.

"They help the decomposition process. They help it break down faster. They add certain nutrients to the compost that make it even more nutritious for the plants," Middletown's Recycling Coordinator Kin O'Rourke said.

The program's been going on for several years. Volunteers bring food waste from their homes to a city greenhouse, where it's dropped into a hole, then covered with leaves or scraps of recycled paper. That serves to keep any fruit flies at bay.

Wesleyan University provides food scraps when its own compost piles are too big. The South Fire District contributes as well.

O'Rourke said you can compost your leaves, grass clippings and scraps of food.

You need a good ratio of carbon material, like the leaves, as well as nitrogen materials, like the grass or food scraps.

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