Bokashi system

As part of their research into sustainable gardening and waste practices an intrepid team of 13 volunteers from Shropshire Master Composters and Garden Organic set out boldly on a voyage than no one had been on before.  The team undertook a detailed assessment of some kitchen waste composters utilising “Bokashi”. If you’ve never used (or never even heard of) this relatively new system of home composting, don’t worry, just read on to discover what our testers found out.

The kitchen composters are marketed as a way of treating all kitchen waste at home. This includes cooked and processed food, meat, fish and dairy, as well as the usual uncooked peelings. The units themselves are essentially a large (18 litre) bucket, but they have a few extra features, namely a sump and tap to drain off liquid and an airtight lid. They also come with a supply of activator, which should be sprinkled in each time food waste added.

The aim is to facilitate a fermentation process within the kitchen waste. This process is aided and abetted by the activator, which contains lactic acid bacteria, fermenting fungi, actinomycetes and yeasts which are all good fermenters. The process is also helped by manually squeezing as much air from the material as possible and by keeping the airtight lid on. After a few weeks fermenting the material can, be safely added to a normal compost bin.

The general idea is that they might be useful for people in flats. However some felt that the general public may find the idea of keeping putrescible food waste in a container until it’s covered with mould less appealing than us hardcore composters!   Certainly despite our best efforts the smells were quite noticable.  And certainly the added level of complexity may prove a serious disincentive to most. But we’ll see how they perform in the summer and after transferring the contents to the compost heap for maturation.

Either way its another way to keep biodegradable material out of landfill and turn it into a useful product, so something all keen composters should atleast be aware of.

A big thanks has to go for the funding and support for this trial was secured from the retailers Straight by our partners at Garden Organic.   Boukashi bins are available via the local council home compost bin schemes across Shropshire and Telford.  If you would like more information on this project or any other aspect of home composting please contact your local volunteer Master Composter via our website www.shropshirecomposters.co.uk