Bokashi - the future of composting!

Bokashi is a brilliant new way of composting your kitchen waste.

It was developed in Japan by Professor Teruo Higa and it uses not-so-new micro-organisms such as yeasts and actinomycetes to work.

The way it works is more akin to pickling than to the rotting you get with normal composting methods.

Food waste is worked on by 5 types of micro-organisms until it is safe to put into the ground or onto your compost heap.

The big benefits are these:

No rats!
Unlike traditional composting methods there is nothing left which is attractive to bigger vermin such as rats.

No smells.
There is no smell of decomposition to worry about and your bokashi bin will not attract flies either. This is because it is kept sealed and every day you add a little of the bokashi bran to cover each new layer of compost. The effective micro-organisms contained in the bokashi bran get to work on the food stuffs. there's a small amount of liquid generated which can be used as soil activator (diluted).

If you read some of the feedback comments below, you will see that sometimes smells can be generated. You need to ensure that your bokashi bran mix is in good condition and that you tap off fluid fairly regularly. Cutting stuff up a bit is also important. There is a yeasty smell which is not unpleasant or strong, so "no smells" is perhaps over-stating it!

It's quick.
Two weeks is all that's needed for the organisms to do their work. That's pretty quick compared to any other method I've encountered so far.

It's convenient.
You can include all types of food waste, including animal products such as left-over meat scraps or cheese. The only inconvenience is that you have to chop up any bigger bits of waste before adding them. You also can't add sopping wet stuff so it's maybe best to carry on running a general waste bin for the compost heap, too.

How does it work?
The fermentation process is anaerobic. That means that air is effectively exluded during the process. The micro-organisms break down the constituents of the food waste until they are effectively pickled.

More than that I don't yet know, as I'm just beginning to use my bokashi bin. So far, so good - I'm definitely impressed!

I've been using my Bokashi buckets for about three weeks and I've just emptied the first bucket into my compost pit. The mixture smells a little strange - vinegary and a bit like something fermented, but not unpleasant.

I've just left the comost pit open for the moment and there has been no evidence of vermin coming to try their luck.

The Bokashi mixture sat in the garage for two weeks after it became full. No-one complained of flies or smells. Our garage gets quite a bit of occupation from the family darts players. I'm sure they would have mentioned it if there had been a problem.

I checked the brew a few times and it smelled OK - a bit like molasses, bran and vinegar, quite pleasant in fact. It looked OK too. There was little sign of decomposition. Most of the ingredients appeared much like they did when they were added.

Now I'll try to see how quickly the Bokashi mix is integrated into the soil.

Update, March 2008

I stopped using my bokashi bin for a short while - probably because of the hassle of chopping stuff up.

recently I started using it again but relegated it to the garage. I also select what to put in alittle more. Bigger and wetter stuff goes into the general compost bin. Anything with meat, fat, cheese or fish, goes into the bokashi bin. I don't chop stuff down very much. So far it seems to be working well.

The bokashi contents which I put onto the soil a few months ago have rotted and disappeared without any problems.

The liquid drawn off has been used as soil activator.

Update November 2008

I stopped using the Bokashi composter for a while - so I suppose there is a limit to its convenience, at least compared to just filling a bucket of scraps from the kitchen and adding them to a compost bin.

Nevertheless, I'm back using the Bokashi method again, mainly because I want to be able to compost meat and protein scraps which are high in nitrogen. They are also a problem in landfill sites as they give off methane - a potent greenhouse gas.

So far it's going well. There's no problem with smell, though I do keep the bin in the garage away from the house.

I've not tried composting dog poo (see comments below) as I'm not sure it's worth the risk. If our dog deposits something unwanted on the lawn I just shovel it into the back of the hedge where no-one is likely to disturb it! I must read up on how well Bokashi microorganisms deal with pathogens. Maybe next year...

I have composted a few bones in the Bokashi mix. There does not seem to be a problem with that.

I'm not sure that some of the Bokashi finished composts have not been raided by birds or rats to some extent. I tried leaving some of it on the surface of the soil to see what happened and some of it seemed to disappear.

It is doubtless best to add the finished mix to your compost bin for further disintegration by natural processes.

I think it is important to chop stuff up to get the best results.

I haven't done any work on assessing the effectiveness of the liquid as a soil activator.

Please see "Wiggled"'s comments below for more advice on how to use Bokashi effectively.

If anyone else has, please comment below. Thanks.