Commercial Worm Farms

Businesses, restaurants, cafes, institutions, manufacturers – anywhere people work and play makes a lot of food waste. Paying to truck it off to landfill costs money, and it's also a waste of a perfectly good resource. But there's an easy answer… a commercial worm farm that processes your food scraps on-site.

Food waste is too good to bury, because in landfill every tonne of food generates at least 2.1 tonnes of CO2-e as methane, according to the NSW EPA. Composting that same tonne, however, produces less than 25 kg.

On-site food waste processing with commercial worm farms

First, Wormlovers audits the waste stream of your business. Then we install a Hungry Bin worm farm system sized to match it. It looks great and shows your staff and customers you're serious about sustainability – and no, it doesn't smell.

After that, the worms do the heavy lifting. What goes in as scraps comes out as worm castings and worm juice, so you also get garden gold for your grounds, your rooftop garden, or to hand out to staff.

What we do

We can:

• Audit your waste levels and what you're spending on waste removal
• Design an on-site worm farm system to suit
• Make sure it fits into the way your kitchen or site already works
• Train your staff so they're confident looking after the worms
• Provide signage, accessories and tools so the system runs well – and so everyone can see your green credentials
• Offer service and support at a level that suits your needs

We have affordable packages for businesses of all sizes, from a single cafe to a corporate HQ, in Melbourne and right around Australia. Because we want your business to be sustainable, let us know how we can help you get there.

Where our worm farms are working

Our commercial worm farms are munching through food waste at Westpac HQ and Optus HQ in Sydney, Box Hill Institute, RACV Cape Schanck Resort, Sea Life Aquarium, Curtin House in Melbourne, Roma Street Parklands in Brisbane, and cafes from Richmond to Jan Juc.

We're passionate about our work, so we love talking about how our worms can help save the world… one worm farm at a time.

Commercial worm farm FAQs

How much work is involved in looking after a commercial worm farm?

Not much more than managing your garbage bins, because the worms do most of the work.

How much expertise do my staff need?

Not a lot. Usually a half-hour training session is all it takes, as long as your worm team reads and follows the manual.

Will it smell?

No. As long as it's looked after properly, all you'll notice is a faint, sweet, earthy smell!

What are the main tips for running a commercial worm farm?

Keep an eye on your worms and don't overfeed them. Also keep the bin moist, don't let it get too hot, and add plenty of waste paper products so it stays balanced.

How many Hungry Bins do you need?

In our experience, one Hungry Bin comfortably handles about 10 kg of food scraps a week, in a footprint of just 0.42 m². So fifteen bins take around 150 kg a week – that's roughly seven tonnes a year in less than half a standard car space, avoiding up to 14 tonnes of CO2-e. However, these are estimates only, and well-managed bins can process more.

Hungry Bins	Food scraps per week	Footprint	Worm juice per week	Castings per quarter	CO2-e avoided per year (up to)
1	10 kg	0.42 m²	1.4 L	14 L	1.0 t
3	30 kg	1.26 m²	4.3 L	43 L	2.9 t
5	50 kg	2.10 m²	7.1 L	71 L	4.8 t
10	100 kg	4.20 m²	14.3 L	143 L	9.6 t
15	150 kg	6.30 m²	21.4 L	214 L	14.4 t

Based on 10 kg of food scraps per bin per week, over 48 weeks a year. Worm juice and castings are scaled from our own sizing figures. CO2-e uses NSW EPA figures – at least 2.1 tonnes per tonne of food in landfill, versus under 25 kg composted – so we've allowed about 2 kg avoided for every kg of food kept out of landfill.

Use these figures as a starting point, or contact us with your waste volumes and type, and then we'll give you an estimate of how many bins you'll need. You can also download our guide to commercial multi-bin worm systems to see how they work.