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Phase: Feedback

Green Worms

Generate organic manure from waste raw vegetables using red earthworms.

Photo of Alex Mugo
12 3

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Green Worms is derived from "Green" raw plants and "Worms" from earthworms.

40% of kitchen waste is made of raw organic food materials like potato peelings, vegetable remains, crop residue etc. These waste are considered of no value and thus just wasted.

Earthworms are used to make organic manure through a process called vermicomposting.

With Green Worms idea, we shall be collecting organic kitchen waste from homes and  institution like hotels, schools and hospitals, we will then take this waste to a decomposing unit, these units will have decomposition sectors made from waste plastic drums or wooden trays put under a shade, at the bottom of each tray there will be a small layers of sand for filtration and an outlet pipe, the other part will be filled with the organic waste part of it being already decomposing materials so that the the worm can have something to feed on, worms will be added to the tray and the tray covered with sisal sack to make it dark and also add some water to make it moist.

Worms will breakdown these organic waste into nutrient-rich compost manure which can be inform of liquid or solid, this organic manure will be sold to farmers.

What early, lightweight experiment might you try out in your own community to find out if the idea will meet your expectations?

This idea has been proved practical, currently we are already generating organic manure from organic waste collected from some hotels in Nairobi town, this manure is being use in Agriculture Concept International farm located in Juja Farm.

What skills, input or guidance from the OpenIDEO community would be most helpful in building out or refining your idea?

Currently we are just producing little for in-house use, we hope to collaborate with OpenIDEO to scale our idea to a level of being able to do mass production and also take the idea to international community. With this OpenIDEO collaboration we also hope to get investors to invest into our idea and make it a reality.

Tell us about your work experience:

My career, I am in IT specializing on software development and innovations, I am also a farmer and a businessman.

This idea emerged from

  • An Individual

How far along is your idea?

  • It was in the works before this challenge – it’s existed for 2-6 months

12 comments

Join the conversation:

Comment
Spam
Photo of Eli Park
Team

Hello, Alex Mugo  Another one for the worm community! We use worm composting within our community gardens to create composts as well! Its great to see similar interest!

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Photo of Alex Mugo
Team

Thank you @Eli Park, I am also happy to join the community, lets join hands and share ideas.

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Photo of Mehrafza Mirzazad
Team

Hi Alex,
I think both of us proposed the same idea, "Worms!" We can make a collaboration. If you are interested in my idea, it is called HEART BRAIN FARM!  Good luck and plz keep in touch.

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Photo of Alex Mugo
Team

Hey Mehrafza Mirzazad ,
Great to hear that, yes you are welcome for collaborations.
Good luck and thanks.

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Photo of Mehrafza Mirzazad
Team

That is great! Keep in touch...

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Photo of Alex Mugo
Team

I will, Thanks

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Photo of Devon Faller
Team

Hi Alex,
I really hope this project of your is going well for you because this idea defines reusing for sure. By using natural materials and waste materials to build composting units. Simple, cheap, and effective to produce natural nutrient rich soil to sell to farmers for a profit. With that profit you would be able to design larger more efficient compost units that will be able to produce more product therefore more profit. By starting small in your community, you are able to get local restaurants and houses to give you their food waste so you can work out problems that occur on the small side. As you grow in size, you will be able to work out problems that occur and be able to fix them quickly without major losses in the profit margin. The more businesses you have donating their food waste to you company the less those companies will have to pay for disposal of waste. All in all it is a great idea and can have a very big effect on the food waste and really shrink the sizes of landfills that are being filled with organic biodegradable products such as food.

A couple things that could be a problem with this idea are how much material will be produced from a yard of materials and also how long does it take for worms to break down the food to a useable soil. If the worms are not able to produce the needed amount to sell then a customer may back out of an agreement take his losses and go somewhere else. If the process is efficient and consistent with the production of material then farmers won’t have a problem buying into your company that produces extremely nutrient rich soil. Now during the planting season, in some areas, have limited time for prep and need to plant their crop right away. Farmers many need a large amount of material in short time. Does this process take a long time to produce a useable amount of material? For big orders, are farmers going to have to order well in advance of getting the material? These a just a few little problems that could slow you down but as you become bigger and more advanced these problems won’t be a bother for long. This idea has potential changing this food waste battle around and start attacking it and lessening the issue. I really like the idea and it has great possibilities.

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Photo of Alex Mugo
Team

Hey Devon Faller ,
Thank you very much for you feedback, for sure the idea has a great opportunity if executed which I trust we will.
On challenges you mentioned, I agree there might challenges like any other business but we shall master the art as we progress.
Kindly note as worms make manure they also multiply  thus increasing the capacity.

Thank you

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Photo of An Old Friend
Team

Hi I like your idea Alex, how will you go about dispersing them?

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Photo of Alex Mugo
Team

Hey Tami,
Thanks you your positive comment, the organic manure is either in liquid or solid form, we shall be packing the organic manure in containers and distribute them as a packed and branded product.

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Photo of Kate Rushton
Team

Hi Alex! 

Thank you for sharing your idea about the worms. Ideally what types of people would you be looking to connect with to develop your idea further and take it to the next stage? What is the next stage?

I can't wait to see how this idea develops. 

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Photo of Alex Mugo
Team

Hey Kate,
Thanks for your comment. The next stage of the idea is mass production which will involve collecting the organic waste from almost all region of Nairobi and having a big decomposition unit, for this to be realized we need a lot of capital and thus we are looking for investors.
We are also looking for mentors.

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