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ONE of Somerset West's most luxurious hotels has mites. And worms, and a whole host of other creepy crawlies - but this time, they're welcome.

In fact, the NH The Lord Charles hotel actually paid money for boxes and boxes of these creatures because they are helping the hotel go green.

It's all part of the Somerset West hotel's efforts to become more environmentally friendly. Like most large companies, it generates a substantial amount of waste - from grass cuttings to fused lightbulbs. And in summer, peak season when things get really busy, the amount just multiplies.

The hotel pays a contractor to take care of removing and sorting the hotel's waste, making sure that items that can be recycled are dealt with accordingly. As from a few weeks ago however, that contractor began removing less and less solid food waste - the leftover lettuce leaves, onions and the like - produced by the hotel's various kitchens.

That's because the hotel now has creepy crawlies to feed. The creepy crawlies - mainly earthworms and other small insects - are kept in special containers and over time produce an organic manure that can be used in the hotel's gardens.

These are no ordinary earthworms, says Vernon Grimmbackher, who owns Wiggler Magic Worms, which supplied the system to the NH The Lord Charles.

"We use surface feeders, ideal for this kind of use, while those in most gardens are burrowers."

All the hotel staff have to do is make sure the worms are comfortable, dry and don't accidentally get fed things they shouldn't eat.

According to hotel sales executive Jaco du Plooy, various departments received training. These included stewarding, the kitchen, gardening and even sales, which use the system as a marketing tool.

"An increasing number of our overseas booking agents want to know what environmental initiatives we have," he says. These kinds of programmes not only give companies a competitive advantage in particularly European and American markets where corporate environmental behaviour is strictly regulated, but are also seen as the type of corporate behaviour expected of leading companies.

"There was quite a bit of resistance among some staff to the worms at first," says Du Plooy. "But that was mainly because people didn't understand the system."

No foul smell
With vermiculture - the culture of earthworms - there is no foul smell one might associate with common types of composting. "It's a fully aerobic process," says Grimmbackher.

Also, the containers are closed and neatly fit into each other - far tidier than any heap of rotting garbage.

The Lord Charles' "worm hotel" is kept in a small garden shed on the property. It's home to about 40 000 worms which will eat through 20 kg of waste every second day. Breeding doubles the number of worms every 45 days - and therefore the food they need - until full capacity is reached. Should the hotel need more, additional containers can simply be added.

Smaller systems are available for ordinary households.

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