You may or may not have heard of a Bokashi composter, but it provides an excellent method of extending your home composting. The ‘Bokashi’ in Bokashi composter is Japanese for ‘fermented organic matter’ and this is a relatively new system in terms of its use in UK homes.
Home composting often consists of collecting items such as vegetable peelings and tea bags, although municipal kerbside collections often collect more than this. A Bokashi composter takes home composting to the next level, however, as you can also add meat and cooked food waste to the bin. Particularly if you do not have compostable waste collected from your home, or if you are a keen gardener and like to make your own compost as much as possible, a Bokashi composter is the ideal way to increase the compost you make and/or reduce the amount of food waste that has to be sent to landfill.
Specially-designed Bokashi composter bins are usually sold in pairs and come with a sump and tap at the bottom. This is to allow excess liquid to be drained away, which can be used on the garden or poured down drains to keep them fresh. Bokashi bran, a bran-based material with friendly micro-organisms, is added to the food waste in the Bokashi composter on a regular basis allowing the waste to ferment. After a couple of weeks, the semi-composted material can be added to an outside compost bin or buried in the ground to provide added nutrients.
Bokashi composters can be sourced from many online stores and may also be available from your local garden centre.
See our home composting and compost bins pages for more on composting.
