Composting is the most climate positive action you can take at home and Bokashi is the easiest way to get started! It doesn't require a backyard, is quick and easy, takes food waste that other composting systems can't and turns your scraps into valuable resources. If you haven't heard of the Bokashi Composting System, here's the rundown!

The Bokashi One bucket in use! Plus a bag of Bokashi Mix that should be sprinkled on top every time you add some food scraps.

What is Bokashi? 

Bokashi composting is super easy. It requires only a small kitchen-top bucket and some microbial bran. Yep, no backyard required!

Bokashi is actually a fermentation process (i.e. we want an anaerobic environment for this process). Bokashi uses beneficial microbes to break down food and organic matter. These microbes are little powerhouses and can handle things that other composting systems can't, including meat, cooked foods, dairy and even small bones! The process turns your waste into an amazing microbe-rich soil conditioner and a liquid that you can use as a fertiliser or drain cleaner.

How to Use a Bokashi System

1. Put almost ALL kitchen scraps into the Bokashi bucket. Unlike most composting systems, Bokashi can handle all types of food waste. This includes fresh veggie scraps as well as cooked food, citrus, onions, coffee grinds, egg shells, dairy, meat, and even small bones. The only exceptions are large bones and lots of oil or liquid. Press each layer of waste down to remove air gaps in the bucket (an old potato masher can come in handy here).
2. Sprinkle a covering of Bokashi Composting Bran over the top of every layer of scraps you put in the bucket. You want a layer of around 6-7 cm. The microbes in the bran are what ferment the organic matter and also stop your Bokashi system from getting smelly.
3. Once the bucket is full, leave it somewhere out of the way for a couple of weeks to allow for full fermentation.
4. The system works best as a two-bin system; start filling up the second bucket while the first is finishing the composting process. Our Bokashi Starter Kit comes with everything you need.
5. Harvest your nutritious end products! At the end of the process, there will be a small amount of fermented matter in the bucket plus the Bokashi liquid which you can harvest using the tap. Both the fermented matter and juice are full of amazing nutrients and alive with micro-organisms!

   1. 👉 Use the Bokashi juice as a drain cleaner or dilute into an amazing fertiliser for your plants.

   2. 👉 Bury the solid matter in your garden, in pots, or give away as valuable fertiliser - your gardening friends will love you for it. What, fertiliser for me? You shouldn't have! 

6. Rinse the empty Bokashi bucket and it's ready to go again!

Also read our troubleshooting tips for Bokashi. 

How to Use Bokashi to Create Healthy Soil

Our Bokashi Composting Bran is made in Australia and is full of beneficial micro-organisms that exist freely in nature. The dry ingredients you can see in the mix are actually carriers for the beneficial microbes. The microbes themselves are dormant in the dried bran and become active when added to your waste.

These fabulous microbes ferment your food waste without nasty smells and will also accelerate the breakdown of the waste when later buried in soil. For those who are interested, this means that these microbes can work both anaerobically (without air like inside the Bokashi bucket) and aerobically (when the waste is added to soil later). 

The microbes also secrete beneficial substances such as antioxidants, vitamins, organic acids and chelated minerals which, when buried with the waste in the garden, build a healthier, stronger and more disease-resistant soil. All of these goodies are also concentrated in the Bokashi juice that's drained from the bucket which is what makes it such a great liquid fertiliser when diluted.

By composting your food waste using the Bokashi system, you're not only diverting waste from landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions but you're also producing your own incredibly valuable, soil-enriching fertiliser for free.

By adding microbes to your soil as opposed to synthetic fertilisers, you are:

• enhancing the soil’s structure
• promoting root growth for your plants
• retaining more moisture and nutrients
• supporting a healthier, happier garden 
• encouraging the presence of beneficial soil organisms such as worms

Harvesting Bokashi juice. Dilute and use as a fertiliser for hungry plants or pour down your drain for sparkling clean pipes!

How to Get Started with Bokashi Composting

We recommend getting started with 2x Bokashi buckets so that when one fills up and is fermenting, you're ready to start filling the second one.

• Our Bokashi Starter Kit comes with 2x buckets and 2x 1kg bags of the Bokashi Mix. This will typically last you at least three full Bokashi buckets of composting. 
• If you're a Perth local and need to top-up your Bokashi Mix, we offer a fill-your-own-container option in store. Bring your own container and get as much or as little as you need.
• Or simply order replacement 1kg bags of Bokashi Mix online. 
• Need a single bucket or replacement parts? We've got you covered! Browse our full range of Bokashi products here.

If you'd like to learn about other methods of composting, read our Beginner's Guide to Composting or come and join us at an upcoming composting workshop in Perth.

Composting your organic waste really is one of the best things you could do for the Earth and your own garden. The Bokashi System is such an easy, low-effort method for anyone to use which is why we love it.

Ask our knowledgeable team for tips or advice any time. We hope to see you soon!

 Further Reading

• Bokashi Composting: Troubleshooting Tips
• How Composting Helps Reverse Climate Change
• Beginner's Guide to Composting
• How to Start a Worm Farm (Step-by-Step Guide)

Browse Our Bokashi Collection:

• Bokashi One Composting System - Single Bucket
• Bokashi One Composting System - Starter Kit
• Bokashi One Composting System - Replacement Tap
• Bokashi One Composting System - Replacement Lid
• Bokashi One Composting System - Replacement Grate
• Bokashi One Composting Mix - 4kg
• Bokashi One Composting Mix - 1kg
• Bokashi One Composting Mix - Fill Your Own Container (in-store only)