Agriculture Reference
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just need to collect the food scraps, add them to the bucket, inoculate them with bokashi bran, and
wait. Once the food scraps are introduced into a bokashi system, the microorganisms will start fer-
menting the scraps immediately, the pH will drop, and no putrid odors will be generated.
No pest problems or putrid odors
When you compost meat, dairy, or any other food scraps with bokashi, you don't have to worry
about putrid odors or attracting pests. All bokashi systems ferment the food waste anaerobically in
asealed container.Sonosmells canemanate fromthefoodwaste toattract pests. Evenifever-curi-
ous flies, rodents, or pets are in the area, they can't get at the food waste because it is sealed inside
the bucket and they are stuck outside.
The fermentation process itself should not produce any putrid odors, though it will create a
smell that the bucket will keep contained. Even though the fermentation process suppresses putre-
faction and the rancid odors that accompany it, the process does produce a typically vinegar, pickle
smellthatisclosertopleasantthatputrid.Butagain,thecontainerissealedshutsoyoucanferment
your food waste inside your home or apartment and even the most sensitive noses won't be able to
detect an odor. This is a huge advantage of using a closed system — the contents stays sealed away
inside of a container while the microorganisms ferment the waste.
In addition to not giving off offensive odors, the microbes within the bokashi bran suppress
putrefaction, pathogenic and methane-producing microbes, dramatically reducing the greenhouse
gasses that are produced.
Minimal (if any) greenhouse gasses are produced
One of the dirty little secrets in the composting world is that traditional composting methods inher-
entlygenerategreenhousegasses(GHG).Thisisnevermentionedintraditionalcompostingcircles,
but is actually a pretty big problem. Methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide are all by-products
of the traditional composting process, and all three are greenhouse gasses.
Aeratedcomposting(AC),oneofthemostcommonroutesforrecyclingorganiccarboninto
soil,hasundeniableeconomicalandecologicaladvantages,butalsohassomenotableshort-
comings. Its carbon recycling potential is 50 percent or less, the entire process is long (≥6
months),anditsGHGfootprintisverylarge.ThemaingasproducedduringACisCO 2 ,but
CH 4 (~25 times more potent as a GHG than CO 2 ) is also a notable by-product. Along with
C mineralization, N is also released, mostly as amines, heterocyclic compounds, ammonia,
nitrite,andnitrate.Suboxic,acidic,andorganic-richconditionscanleadtoincompletedeni-
trificationwiththeformationofN 2 Oaswell.TheamountofN 2 Oemittedissmallrelativeto
CO 2 , yet N 2 O is ~300 times more powerful as a GHG than CO 2 . There is furthermore clear
evidence that unchecked N 2 O produced during the turnover of carbon residues amended in
soil can contribute GHG equivalents to the atmosphere which more than offset carbon sav-
ings due to aerated composting.
— Green and Popa, “Turnover of Carbohydrate-Rich Vegetal Matter”
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