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. Thompson said vermiculture could work for Georgia, too. To be viable on a large scale, though, it must be proven economically feasible.
Worms take to sludge like mice to cheese.
In fact, one worm can eat its weight in sludge every day. One pound of worms can eat and process one pound of sludge. However, a large land area would be needed for the worms to process large amounts of sludge, said Jason Governo, a graduate student working closely with Thompson's research. A Pound of Worms Can Tell You More Most vermiculture research uses only one or two worms in small laboratory settings. Thompson and Governo are using pounds of worms in their research.