COMPOSTER SES DÉCHETS | LOMBRICOMPOSTEUR | MA MAISON ZÉRO-DÉCHET EP4

Each French produces on average 120 kg of organic waste, so compostable, per year. But obviously, we're not all lucky enough to have a garden or a compost nearby. If we have an apartment, that's our case, we have a solution, it's the Lombrey Composter. In fact, it's an abuse of language to say organic waste. It must be considered in its entirety. A vegetable peel is part of a cycle. The earth produces it, we use it, and we give it back to the earth. We could very well put these waste in the trash, but by putting them in the trash, they will be treated in the same way as our household waste. Whereas if we treat them properly, in a composter or a Lombrey Composter, on the contrary, they will turn into something positive, like fertilizer or a source of nutrients for our crops. In fact, we're going to try to imitate nature, in a way. When you walk in the forest, there are dead leaves on the ground, there are shrubs, tree branches, etc., that have fallen. Well, all of this is degrading on its own. It's part of a system. There are insects, there are mushrooms that will eat all of this, that will transform it into something new, and that will give it back to the earth to feed the trees and produce fruits, for example. Well, it's exactly this system that we're going to imitate in our compost, in our Lombrey Composter. So, of course, there is a solution suitable for everyone, depending on where you live, depending on your courage, in quotes, and of course, also depending on your budget. You can very well make your own composter or Lombrey Composter for a few euros. There are plenty of tutorials on the internet, I invite you to check them out if you're interested. In our case, we use a Lombrey Composter for several reasons. The first is that our collective composter in the neighborhood was deleted last year, so we had to find a solution closer to us. The second is that we are in an apartment, so it's difficult to have a composter on the balcony, for obvious reasons, and the Lombrey Composter was a good compromise for that, in fact. We can leave it outside, it will work on its own, and it needs very little maintenance compared to a classic composter. The Lombrey Composter is also a solution for composting indoors. It's our case in winter, when it's cold, the insects inside will die if we leave them outside at too low a temperature. So at that moment, we're going to put it directly in our kitchen. First, why is it called Lombrey Composter? Well, it's not worms that are inside, but it's worms of the Lombrey family that will eat and digest the waste that we're going to put in. From that, a whole ecosystem will be created inside, lots of little insects that will develop there and live in it by nibbling all the waste that we're going to put in. And it's pretty amazing, it's very nice to watch. All these little insects, we're also going to find them in a classic composter. The difference is that the composter, in a garden or even in the city, will be placed on grass. So in fact, the insects will come from below, from the ground to the compost, and they will develop there. In the case of a Lombrey Composter, it's us who are going to integrate worms raised next to it, directly inside. As I said at the beginning, there are a multitude of brands that make Lombrey Composters, and we can also very easily make them ourselves for really cheap. We chose the City Worms brand for the simple reason that it's a French brand, so they make these Lombrey Composters in France, in 100% recycled plastic and 100% recyclable. As I said earlier, the kit of this Lombrey Composter, which is super easy to assemble, comes with a package of worms that are already raised, and we just integrate them directly inside, and little by little, feed them more and more, so that they develop and reproduce among themselves. I know you are very intrigued by this bottle, a bit like a skull of black juice. I will explain to you later what it is for, but it will be at the end, because before we have to go from top to bottom of the Lombrey Composter. So what is hidden under this lid? Well, quite simply, the contributions that we made recently in the Lombrey Composter. You should know that, as for a classic compost, for it to work well, you have to respect a certain balance between carbon and nitrogen. Nitrogen will come from everything that is fresh, everything that is green, zucchini peels, fresh leaves, etc. And carbon will come from carbonated materials, it can be either dry matter, the average is dry leaves, dry branches, or, in our case, non-printed, neutral cardboard. Typically, an empty toilet paper roll, I'm not going to put it in the recyclable, I'm going to put it in my compost. And in addition, it will prevent too much humidity inside. The best way to respect this balance is to add cardboard directly as soon as you add vegetable peels. If I put a handful of zucchini peels, I'm going to add a little bit of cardboard, in small pieces, so that it is easier to eat by worms. On the contrary, there are also things that should not be put in a compost. Onion peels, garlic peels, they are worms, it may kill them if they eat them. We will also avoid everything that is citrus, as well as animal proteins, meat, fish, milk, and even bread and products that are too prepared or in sauce, we will not put them in a compost, we will prefer a classic compost, from the neighborhood or from the garden. It may seem a bit restrictive, to have a bucket in addition to the compost, but for us both, for example, this bucket will be emptied every month, even every two months. You should also know that the worms that are in this compost are sensitive to light. That's why we don't see them here, as soon as we open the lid, they are hidden a little in depth. And so if we go to the next floor, well, it's the sequence of digestion of food, quite simply. And look at this, we have a beautiful terro, beautiful. This, after a few months, we will be able to harvest it, there, it is starting to be full, we will be able to put it directly in our plants. It's going to be a natural fertilizer, in fact. This terro is already loaded with a lot of good things for the plants. So here we can clearly see the operation on the floor of the composting worm. At the top, we will put our ingredients, our peelings, our carton. The worms will eat them for the first time, digest them, spit them out. We will move on to the next floor. And here we have a terro that is beautiful. They will continue to eat all the residues, until the final step, this famous black bottle that we talked about earlier, this worm. It will be stored in the third bin. So the best thing is to leave a bottle underneath, with the tap always open, so that it can flow directly and prevent it from stagnating. So in this juice, we have a vitamin concentrate which was initially contained in vegetable peelers. That's why it's very good for your plants. You can use it both for indoor and outdoor plants. If we use it pure, it is to be used with spray parsimony, for example, on leaves to give them a little whip. Or else, it must be diluted by 10, 10 centiliters for 1 liter of water, for example. And then there, we can directly water our vegetable plants or our indoor plants with it. When the tank is full, on the top, you just have to put another one on top and start filling it in the same way. Or when our terro tank is full, we will be able to empty it and put it back on top, and again put feed in it. So here we can see the idea of ​​the cycle of peeling, which turns into both terro and fertilizer for the plants, which will in turn produce vegetables that we will be able to re-peel and put back in the composting funnel, etc. So it's a much more logical and virtuous cycle than putting your waste in the trash. There is also one thing, it is that the worms self-regulate, that is, they will not overpopulate if there is not enough food. But as soon as we put things back in, they will start to reproduce again, to multiply. So the composting funnel is still quite simple to use. There are still one or two little things on which I would like to share our experience, us in the apartment. For example, in winter, inside, we will have an overpopulation of bugs in the apartment. To regulate that, you have to avoid that there is too much humidity in the compost. Put cardboard, or if you put sweet fruits that will also attract flies, maybe pack them in a paper bag before putting them in the composting funnel. The best thing is if you have a garden shelter or an underground parking lot, you can absolutely put the composting funnel in it, since worms do not like sunlight anyway. So they will be very happy there. The important thing is to have the most stable temperature possible, because they are like us, they do not like when it is too cold, they do not like when it is too hot, they are sensitive to temperature variations. On a balcony or in a kitchen, it's very good to do. So that's it for our composting solution here in the apartment. On a trip, it will be a whole other difficulty, because obviously we will not have a composting funnel with us. So we will try either to find composters on the road, or in nature, to make sure that our food is degraded in the most natural way possible. If you are a composting pro, or a mad composter funnel like us, do not hesitate to share your photos, it's always nice to see the solutions of others. See you soon !