It is a small scale food composting system that uses an air tight bucket and special micro-organisms to break down the food and it does so without the yuk factor of the disgusting smells usually associated with anaerobic decomposition. It will also handle some materials that are verboten in normal composters and/or not particularly enjoyed by worms such as onions/garlic, citrus rinds and uncooked/cooked meat. They are ideal for those living in the city and suburban environment that want to compost their waste but are put off by the associated stink and hassle. Does this interest you? If so, then read on!
Of course it is possible to go out to Bunning’s or wherever and pick up a commercial Bokashi bin, but they can cost over $70 and if you are a bit short of cash you can make yourself one for a bit over $10, or less if you have any 20 litre buckets already hanging around.
The DIY Bokashi bucket was ready to compost (or bokash, or whatever you call it....)
Operating your Bokashi Bucket
Once the bucket has finished Bokashing you can use the output for a number of things (See the next section) and once the bucket is empty, clean it out thoroughly and it will be ready to go again either when you other bucket is full or to start now with your frozen stuff.
Any Problems?
If you bucket has not been doing what it is supposed to you may start to get anaerobic decomposition that produces the characteristic rotten egg smell or it may show the presence of black or blue green fungi, and this may be due to one or more of the following causes –
The bucket has been too hot or too cold for a prolonged period of time. Again this is unlikely if you keep your bucket inside, but don’t stick it out in the shed particularly if you are subjected to the 42°C that we get here in a Western Sydney summer!
Now What Do I Do?
Now that you have the output of your Bokashi the question is what can you do with it and there are a number of options –
Use it to attract black soldier flies. This is the stuff of a whole ‘nother article but briefly you can use you bokashi output in a commercial or homemade black soldier fly larvae farming set up. This set up induces the black soldier fly to lay eggs in or around vegetable waste then captures the larvae (maggots) as they go looking for soil to pupate in. The maggots can then be fed to chooks or fish in an aquaculture system. I have found that the bokashi material attracts black soldier fly like nothing else!
Helping your Bucket do its work
The only real down side to the Bokashi system is the continuing outlay on the Bokashi material itself, and I have read that it may be possible to home produce something similar, but I haven’t tried it so more research is needed. Watch this space!
Update 2012
No I haven't gotten around to making my own bokashi stuff yet, but the bucket itself is still in daily use. I must admit that I was never happy with the tap in the original design above, it is just too expensive. I have done a couple of workshops on composting which included making a Bokashi bucket and in the lead up to those I spent some time wandering around the local hardware shop to try and come up with something just as effective but cheaper and lo and behold I did! There are black plastic taps made to screw into 20 litre plastic cube shaped liquid storage bottles but need to be secured in the bottom of the bucket and if you get hold of a 25mm plastic female plumbing connector it will screw straight in. You don't even need the full length of the connector so you can (as I did) saw them in half with a hand saw or band saw and use one connector to fit two bokashi bins with taps. Just drill a 25mm hole in the bottom of the bucket with a speed bit, push the threaded bit of the tap through into the bucket and screw on the half 25mm connector on the other side to secure the tap. It works pretty well but even so I would run a bead of silicone around the outside of the tap seal, just to make sure, so you don't get any Bokashi water making a break for it. Good luck!