The process could be a viable alternative, he said, for current waste-management practices that continue to grow more expensive and impractical as the world's population expands. The earthworms don't have to be trained for vermiculture or do anything unusual. As the worms eat organic materials, such as sludge from wastewater treatment plants, they excrete it as castings. Worm castings, which look much like freeze-dried coffee crystals, make good fertilizer for plants. They also improve the water and nutrient-holding capacity of the soil.
Earthworms eat and convert sludge into a more environmentally safe product.
The nutrients are more available to plants. The worms get rid of the harmful waste and in return provide a much nicer product that's not as smelly. Not only are the castings easy on the environment, they can catch a good price as well. Cities around the world are looking to vermiculture to combat waste problems, Thompson said. Vermiculture in India, one of the most heavily populated places in the world, gets rid of as much as 30 tons of waste a day.