All About Bokashi Bins

I’m back with another composting post and today I’m chatting about bokashi bins! I’ve always wanted to try bokashi bins after hearing that you can put any sort of food waste in here including packaged foods like cakes as well as meats. This means that bringing a bokashi bin into our home composting system will reduce our food waste to landfill even further, which is a major bonus.

WHAT IS A BOKASHI BIN?

The bokashi bin is a composting system which can be kept inside in the kitchen. It is basically an air tight container bin with a little tap on the bottom. Inside the bucket, there is a compartment separately liquid run-off with the solid food waste.

The bokashi bin I’m using here is the Maze bokashi indoor compost bin which comes with a scoop and compacting tool and is available from Bunnings.

WHAT CAN YOU PUT IN A BOKASHI BIN?

All food waste! One of the unique things about the bokashi bin is that it not only takes all fruit and veggie scraps, but it also takes meat (though don’t put large bones), dairy, eggs, small bones and even packaged food. So if you’ve ever been looking for a way to reduce food waste even more and tackle waste from meat offcuts and the like, then the bokashi bin is a great option as you can put any food product in it.

HOW DO I USE A BOKASHI BIN?

In order to compost with a bokashi bin, you will need to add layers of food waste (around 3-5cm) followed by 4-5 sprays of the bokashi enzyme accelerator or a sprinkle of bokashi grains. Make sure to use the compactor tool to push the waste down first so there are no pockets of air as this method of fermenting is an anaerobic process meaning that the less air, the better.

Once the bin is filled with its layers, the enzyme accelerator will ferment the waste in the bin and in turn create ‘bokashi juice’ which can be diluted with water and used to fertilise the garden.

Aside from the liquid fertiliser extracted from the bokashi bin, you’ll also have a bin full of semi-solid waste. There are two things you can do with this waste:

• bury it in the garden - dig a hole/trench in your garden and in a few weeks this will break down into nutritious soil, much like compost

• put it in your compost bin if you have one - and have it turn into compost

If you don’t have anywhere to bury it or you don’t have a compost bin, then you can reach out to neighbours, community gardens, families or even use the ShareWaste app to find someone local who would be more than happy to take your waste.

Once you’ve buried/composted your bokashi waste, you simply rinse the bucket with water and start again! If a bokashi bin is the only system you’re using, it’s often recommended to have two bokashi bins so that once the first one is fermenting and full, you can start filling your second one. But if you have multiple systems like us and also have worm farms, etc in the garden, then you can simply use those systems instead whilst your bin is full!

PROS

The good thing about bokashi bins is that it composts all sorts of food waste, so that you can do an even better job with reducing waste to landfill. Plus, they’re also small and can be kept indoors eg. under the kitchen sink, making them great for apartments and the like.

CONS

The downside of bokashi bins is that it you have the additional solid waste to deal with which needs to be buried or put in a compost bin. This means that those who live in apartments will need to still find a way to get rid of this waste - though the good news is that plenty of people would be happy to take it if you just ask around!

But for those who have other systems like compost bins or a garden space to bury the waste, then the bokashi bin makes the perfect addition to your existing system, allowing you to reduce your food waste to virtually zero.

I hope this post is helpful! If you want to purchase a bokashi bin or any other composting system (worm farm, compost bin, etc), be sure to check with your local council to see if there are any rebates or vouchers available as I know plenty of councils in Melbourne who offer an incentive for those purchasing their very first composting system. Once you’ve got that sorted, you can find all your composting things at Bunnings!

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