THOSE CREEPY SANITATION WORKERS HELP US CLEAN UP OUR ACT

Halloween may have come and gone, but the spotlight has yet to fade for some creepy, crawly critters worms! These little soil diggers can actually help us recycle our garbage.

A seminar on vermicomposting (worm composting) will be held Monday, Nov. 17 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Wake County Commons Building. "Harnessing Worm Power: Organics Recycling for the 21st Century," coordinated by Rhonda Sherman, a solid waste management specialist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, is designed for business and community leaders, solid waste professionals, farmers, gardeners and others interested in the future of this recycling method.

Vermicomposting practitioners and experts will be on hand to describe their operations. Speakers include Mary Appelhof, internationally acclaimed educator who wrote Worms Eat My Garbage; Tom Christenberry whose vermicomposting operations will convert 12 million pounds of hog manure into 6 million pounds of fertilizer this year; and Dick Sloane, whose vermicomposting operation at the National Institute of Environmental Sciences at Research Triangle Park converts 100 pounds of cafeteria food scraps per week to fertilizer.