Project combines tea, worms.

Byline: Scott Maben The Register-Guard

Avid gardeners know the secrets of compost tea, an organic brew that promotes plant growth and prevents disease.

But what in the heliotrope is a tea composter?

It's the latest brainstorm from folks who hate to see anything thrown away and love the idea of giving an object - in this case, a shipping container - a second life.

Wooden bins used to import dried tea leaves from India and Sri Lanka for the Tazo premium tea company of Portland are being converted into worm composters in Eugene.

The project is spearheaded by Zorba Frankel, managing editor of Eugene-based Worm Digest, a quarterly publication with global reach that celebrates the use of worms to compost organic waste and enrich soils.

The thin-plywood crates, 2 feet long and 22 inches deep, are easily modified to host a squirm of 1,000-plus redworms. Also known as red wigglers, the worms busily break down table scraps and produce a fertile soil amendment for the garden and potted plants.

Tazo and Worm Digest found each other through an e-mail broadcast by the Association of Oregon Recyclers. The tea seller was looking for a responsible way to reuse or recycle the 60-some tea crates it collects each month. Worm Digest, meanwhile, was looking for wood boxes that could be turned into worm bins and sold at local workshops and community events.

It's proving to be an ideal match.

"We've heard from a number of readers over the years, including both hobbyists and worm educators, who try to reuse containers whenever possible," Frankel wrote in the latest edition of Worm Digest, which goes to nearly 3,000 readers and sells ad space to such businesses as vermicomposter manufacturers and worm farmers.

Steve Cohen, communications manager for Tazo, said artists, decorators and container gardeners also have shown interest in the company's exotic-looking crates, which are painted with the names and symbols of the tea gardens that build the boxes from plywood and strips of aluminum sheet metal.

But giving them away for worm composters provides for a fitting reuse, Cohen said.

"Not only will the crates be recycled, but they'll be used to further recycle," he said. "It's absolutely perfect."

The supply may be limited, however. Gradually, tea growers are switching from the bulky boxes to lighter, foil-lined bags, Cohen said.

"So this may be a thing that in the future we won't be able to provide them," he said. "But I think it will be a while before this centuries-old practice will change."

Frankel, whose full-time job is coming up with new ground to plow in Worm Digest, has collected a dozen of the tea bins so far and has converted one into a composter. All he has to do is fit a lid over the hole where Tazo workers cut open the boxes, add handles, drill some holes to provide the worms ventilation, and tack wooden runners to the bottom to lift the box off the ground.

Frankel even made some "Tea House Worm Bin" labels for the boxes that encourage potential owners to "invite your worms to tea."

The bins can be used indoors or outside and should last three or four years, he said.

Soon they can be seen at local events, including the April 19 Earth Day celebration in downtown Eugene and a series of worm composting workshops that Worm Digest will offer through the city of Eugene beginning in May.

Located in the Growers Market building at 454 Willamette St., the publication plans to sell the bins for $20 each. That will include a composting starter kit of shredded paper bedding and a copy of "The Art of Small-Scale Vermicomposting." (Worms sold separately.)

It also has other bins for sale, including a thicker plywood model and two-tiered plastic bins.

"A worm bin is a great ecosystem that hosts a lot of organisms, a lot of decomposers," said Frankel, whose enthusiasm for worm composting is unequivocal. "The castings are considered an excellent fertilizer that plants just love."

WORM DIGEST

Web site: www.wormdigest.org

Phone: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

CAPTION(S):

Zorba Frankel of Worm Digest adds redworms to one of the composters he created to break down table scraps and produce a soil amendment. WORM DIGEST Web site: www.wormdigest.org Phone: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] Worms: Tea seller finds responsible way to recycle crates collected each month Continued from Page B1