Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
gallon drum filled to the top with moist organic waste is going to be extremely heavy and hard to
move around and empty. From a bucket management standpoint, a number of smaller containers
may make more sense than one large container. That being said, there are systems out there which
utilize fifty-gallonplasticdrumsandrollawaytrashcansinmoreindustrialsettingslikerestaurants,
because of the extreme amounts of kitchen waste that are being generated on a daily basis.
One factor to consider when you are sizing your system is how much waste you generate. I
recommend a bucket that takes no more than two weeks to fill (less time is even better). Bokashi
fermentationneedstotakeplaceanaerobically,andifyoukeepopeningthebuckettoaddfreshfood
wasteyoukeepintroducingoxygentothesystem.Themoreyoudothis,themorethefinalferment-
ation gets delayed and the higher the chances that the contents will go rancid and spoil because the
anaerobic microbes can't dominate. Experience tends to show that when the constant opening and
closing drags out for more than two weeks you will probably ending up with a bad batch (unsuc-
cessful fermentation). So if you can't fill the container you are using to at least 80 percent of its
maximum capacity within two weeks, the fermentation container is too big and you should use a
smaller one. In addition to reducing the amount of times that oxygen is introduced to the system,
this will also decrease the airspace between the lid and the top of the kitchen waste. Ideally this
airspace will be as small as possible, meaning the bucket is jam-packed right to the lid.
Regardless of container size, the contents of the bokashi bucket should be packed down ex-
tremely tight — as tight as you can get them. Some retailers offer a potato-style masher to do this. I
havefoundtheeasiestwaytopackdownthecontentsistouseanoldplasticgrocerybag.Afteryou
putinthefirstroundofscraps,addthebagtothebucket.Justlayitflatontopofthecontents;itwill
be the perfect size for most retail bokashi buckets and homemade five-gallon buckets. The grocery
bag will then create an oxygen barrier separating the fermenting food waste from the air gap above
and will also give you a clean surface to compact the waste with. Nothing fancy here, just lay the
bag flat and press down with your body weight. You can get an amazing amount of waste into a
five-gallon bucket if you compact it this way.
Foratypicalfamily,thefive-gallonsizeisoptimum;mostfamilieswillfilloneinaboutaweek.
Having four separate buckets in rotation creates a continuous system that constantly generates an
organic soil amendment and is always available to receive new kitchen waste. Four commercial
bokashi buckets aren't that expensive if you want to go that route. If you go homemade, the four
buckets will be really cheap, especially if you can scavenge them from somewhere. The low-cost
homemade option also allows you to easily scale up to even more buckets if needed and desired.
At this point, if you really want to try bokashi composting and are willing to do a little work,
costisnolongeranissue.Forlessthanfiftydollarsyoucanbuildyourownbokashibucket,ferment
your own bran, and still end up with a bottle of EM1 that has a variety of other non-bokashi uses
all to itself. Building the bucket and making your own bran will also help you to better understand
the whole process and get a better feel for things. You might even make some discoveries along the
way that can ultimately make things easier for yourself and other bokashi enthusiasts. The space-
andwallet-friendlyoptionsmakebokashifermentationapracticalandviablechoiceforpeoplewho
currently won't or can't compost traditionally for whatever reason, giving the world another solu-
tion for diverting food waste from the landfill to the soil.
