The Department is finding that composting with worms, known as vermicomposting, is one way prisons can respond to the executive order handed down by Gov. Jim Hunt instructing all state agencies to reduce the amount of waste they send to the landfill by 40 percent. Brown Creek Correctional Institution began experimenting with vermicomposting last year as part of its comprehensive recycling plan. During the first eight months of Brown Creek’s recycling program, the prison was able to keep more than 42 tons of organic matter out of the landfill through composting alone – both with and without worms.

Now, Sampson Correctional Institution is taking the idea of vermicomposting to the next level. The prison is part of a pilot program and, if all goes well, worms may be eating their way through garbage at several prisons across the state in the near future.

"Through recycling alone, we had already met the governor’s goal of reducing our waste by 40 percent," said Steve Muller, superintendent of Sampson Correctional Institution. "Now that we have found a way to handle our kitchen waste, that percentage should continue to increase. As soon as we can find a source for our Styrofoam, the reduction in the amount of waste we send to the landfill will probably be close to 80 percent."

To illustrate this point, Muller said the prison used to have five, eight-yard Dumpsters that had to be emptied three times a week. Since the recycling program was implemented, the prison now has one, 36-yard Dumpster that gets emptied once a month.

"Now that we are getting the food waste out of the way and there will be no smell, we may be able to go three or four months on a Dumpster, maybe even six months," he said.

With the implementation of the vermicomposting system, kitchen waste is no longer dumped in the trash. Instead, it is now emptied into two large containers located behind the prison, each containing 100,000 worms, shredded paper and lint from the prison’s laundry. As microbes break down the food, the worms eat the microbes, transforming the waste into a nutritional composting material. Muller said part of the compost produced by the worms will be used in the prison’s horticultural program and for landscaping, while some will be donated to the agricultural research center and to the local community college.

In addition to vermicomposting, Sampson also recycles and bales cardboard, paper, plastic, steel cans and aluminum cans. Rather than sending these items to the landfill, the baled materials are sold to local vendors.