Doug Schilling, left, a junior from Valmeyer studying agriculture education, and Nick Barger, right, a junior from Belleville studying horticulture, plant a variety of potatoes Monday at the Southern Illinois University Vermicompost Center in Carbondale. “The worms are fed vegetable scraps, shredded newspaper for filler food, and sawdust with seeds,” Carly Merz, a student worker at the center, said. Tuesday is Earth Day, the worldwide recognition of giving back to the earth through means such as composting or recycling. The center sells fresh produce to the SIU dining halls in exchange for vegetable scraps to feed to worms said Barger. “Instead of throwing away waste we can use it as compost to produce fresh vegetables and this also helps keep the produce local,” Barger said. SIU has planned several Earth Day celebrations such as Logic selling produce from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. outside the Student Center and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. as a part of the Campus Consciousness Tour on the east side of the Student Center.

REMY ABROUGHT • DAILY EGYPTIAN

A pile of compost sits at the Vermicompost Center at the SIU farms. Vermicompost is the process of composting using various worms. The vegetable scraps used for the compost come from SIU dining halls.

REMY ABROUGHT • DAILY EGYPTIAN