by PETER SWANSON.
Agricultural students teaching elementary school students about growing their school garden using Bokashi compost.
Food waste produces 35% of our carbon footprint in the United States, according to Sunil Amrith, author of The Burning Earth. While addressing the larger issue is complex, some people in Eastern Massachusetts are learning a technique that makes the composting part easy: Bokashi!
Wasting Away
Whether we take our food waste to the transfer station, put it into our trash containers, or have a composting company pick it up, an estimated 60% of it is water. Towns are transporting lots of water from the transfer station to an incinerator—expensive water waste. Transportation to move food waste to the incinerator is costly, and both incineration and gas- or diesel-powered transportation increase the amount of carbon entering the atmosphere.
Composting reduces our carbon footprint in a traditional way or through the Bokashi composting method. However, the most significant benefit of carbon-sinking methods like Bokashi is that they help reduce greenhouse gasses and reverse contamination.
The Japanese have been using Bokashi for 1,000 years. It is a 30-day composting system that incorporates fermentation. Making compost in a traditional way can take six months to a year. In addition, not all food scraps can easily be composted in your backyard with traditional methods, as meat, bread, and dairy products attract unwanted rodents. Animals don’t seem to be interested in fermented food waste once it is buried in soil or put into a compost pile.
Students Teaching the Teacher!
Before learning the Bokashi technique from high school agricultural students in Honduras, I composted traditionally. Using the Bokashi method is much easier and quicker.
Why Bokashi?
1. It doesn’t rot or stink.
2. Your total necessary space is only two repurposed 5-gallon plastic pails.
3. You will make fewer trips to the dump with your trash.
4. You can easily compost in the cellar or garage during the winter.
5. You can make a Bokashi tea fertilizer.
As a community effort, my neighbors practice Bokashi composting together with just 2 five-gallon buckets.
Getting Started
Bokashi systems can be purchased online. If you purchase the repurposed two-bucket system from us, the Sustainability Project/Honduras, instead, the money is used for educational sustainability projects at five elementary schools in Yoro, Honduras. The applied science curriculum being taught includes composting, organic gardening, water capture off roofs, water filtration, and reforestation projects.
Many people like making the components themselves by using mostly repurposed materials: two buckets, six pieces of scrap wood, and five plastic lids. You will need to purchase and install two spigots for draining the Bokashi tea. Some people make anaerobic inoculants using bran; I buy the Bokashi inoculant.
Use one of the two buckets to begin. Place the three pieces of wood on the bottom of the pail. The space allows the Bokashi tea to settle. Next, put a plastic disc on top of the small pieces of wood. Sprinkle the Bokashi inoculant on top of the disc. Empty your countertop food waste into the pail. Once again, sprinkle a small amount of the inoculant over the food scraps. Press down with a second plastic disc to compact the scraps. Tightly screw on the cover of the pail until you’re ready to add more food waste. Continue the process until the bucket is full. Fermentation takes 15 days. When the first bucket is full, start the procedure again with the second bucket.
While the waste in the first pail is fermenting, draw off all the liquid tea through the spigot. After 20 days, empty the solid Bokashi contents into your garden, into a hole in the ground, or a compost bin or pile. It will take 15 more days to complete the aerobic part of the process. Keep alternating the buckets.
Jack is our neighbor. He attends Foster Elementary School in Hingham. He and his Dad contribute to our Bokashi pails. Photo provided by Peter Swanson.
A Planet Earth Worth Saving!
We need to share in the responsibility for making things “Cleaner and Greener.” When you compost at home, you will be teaching valuable lessons to your children and grandchildren. The students that I have worked with here on the South Shore and in Honduras are eager to participate.
Traditional composting can be very time-consuming and expensive. Another solution is municipal Bokashi composting, where 55-gallon drums can be set up at drop-off locations such as transfer stations. As an example, a municipal Bokashi method is used successfully in Bogotá, Colombia, proving it can be done. The impetus for local governments to act can come from all of us in the community demanding that we do better with our solid waste stream.
We in Eastern Massachusetts can lead the way for other communities, one family at a time. Let’s practice while bringing insight to others. I would be happy to help you get started.
Peter Swanson is a former teacher who developed the urban horticulture curriculum for Quincy HS. He teaches Square Foot Gardening, a method that allows people with limited space to grow amazing vegetables. (781) 864-5498 pswansonqhs@gmail.com
