Benefits

Soil

- Improves the physical structure of the soil

- Enhances the number of micro-organisms in the soil (adds various enzymes, including phosphatase and cellulase)

- Microbes in worm castings are 10 to 20 times more active than in the soil and organic matter ingested by the worm

- Attracts deep-burrowing worms which already inhabit the soil

- Increases moisture retention

Plant growth

- Increases germination, crop yield and plant growth

- Enhances root growth and structure

- Adds micro-organisms to the soil (including plant hormones, e.g. auxins and gibberellic acid)

Economic

- Usage of bio-wastes reduces the amount of waste in landfills

- Eliminates bio-wastes from the waste stream, thus reducing the contamination of other recyclable waste collected in a single bin (this is especially relevant in communities practicing single-stream recycling)

- Helps create local jobs

- Requires small capital and simple technologies, therefore it is well-suited for less-developed agricultural regions

Environmental

- Helps eliminate the "metabolic gap" through recycling waste on-site

- Large-scale vermicomposting systems use temperature control and mechanized harvesting, but other equipment is rather simple and long-lasting

- Reduces the emission of greenhouse gas, such as methane and nitric oxide (they form in landfills or incinerators when waste is not composted or through methane harvest)

As fertilizer

Vermicompost can be used differently � either mixed directly into the soil, or seeped in water and made into a worm tea by mixing some vermicompost in water, bubbling in oxygen with a small air pump, and steeping for a certain number of hours or days. The activity of microbes in the compost will be more intense if during this period it is aerated. The resulting mixture can be used as any other fertilizer or sprayed on the vegetation. In some vermicomposting systems, dark brown liquid, called leachate, accumulates in the bottom. It is recommended to pour this liquid back into the bin when additional moisture is necessary, because it may contain phytotoxin and organic acids which may harm plants. Fertilizer made from vermicompost has different pH, microbial and nutrient content due to feedstock used in the vermicomposting bin. The pH can be increased by adding calcium carbonate or pulverized limestone.