Styn Swinkels

The Wormhotel is a large, custom build worm bin, located on the sidewalk. It's a community initiative in the famous 'Pijp-neighbourhood' in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Neighbours were asked to separate and collect their fruit and vegetable waste and dispose of it in the Wormhotel. The worms will eat this waste and convert it into very healthy vermicompost. The neighbours will then use this in their (balcony)gardens or spread it in the tree pits.
This project is sponsored by the Amsterdam council and all participants received a free green plastic bin for collecting their green waste and a key to open the lid. At the moment a group of around 20 participants are using this composter. It has been in service (quite problemfree) since spring 2015 and several loads of healthy vermicompost have been harvested already. The concept is now slowly spreading in Amsterdam. This video is Dutch spoken with English subtitles.

Amsterdam is rich in plant species and many Amsterdammers enjoy taking care of plants in tree pits, tiny pavement gardens and other strips of reclaimed land. If only more of (all of!) the plants used could be edible or medicinal and that more urban gardeners knew how to harvest and use some of those amazing plants.
River of Herbs is an Amsterdam based community initiative that encourages and assists people to plant and use insect pollinated herbs throughout the city. This (English spoken) video provides a brief introduction to the work of River of Herbs by founder Lynn Shore.

Hi Matt,

Yes I have heard of such an initiative, although it is urban and thus not so much about yard waste but more about fruit and vegetable waste since most participants don't even have a garden. In fact I made a short webdoc (subtitled in English) about this project:


The Wormhotel is a community initiative based in the famous 'Pijp-neighbourhood' in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Wormhotel is an 'urban streetcorner worm composter': a large, custom build worm bin, located on the sidewalk in the Frans Halsstreet. Neighbours were asked to separate and collect their fruit and vegetable waste and deposit it in the Wormhotel. The lid of this composter is locked so only participants can open it. Currently around 20 households are using this composter. The project is sponsored by the municipality and all participants received a free green plastic bin for collecting the waste and a key to open the lid. The composter has been in service (quite problemfree) since summer 2015 and two loads of healthy vermicompost have already been harvested. The concept is now slowly spreading in Amsterdam.
Two relating weblinks (in Dutch): the Facebook group 'Buurtcomposteren' and the website of the company that designed and build this Wormhotel: Le Compostier.

Hope this helps,
Styn