Bokashi Fermentation Food Waste Composting

Apr 23, 2025 | Featured

We are grateful to a guest speaker from Sustainable South Hams who spoke to the Parish Meeting on 15 April about how to use the bokashi system of anaerobic (without oxygen) fermentation food waste composting.

Food waste, including meat, is placed into a bin and handful of a special bokashi bran starter sprinkled on top of about every 5 cm depth. The food waste is squashed down to remove air and an air-tight lid put on. The fermenting food waste doesn’t smell unpleasant. When ready it can be buried and then planted on top of, or added to a traditional compost heap where it will break down faster and will not attract vermin.
You can buy special bokashi bins or can make your own using a readily available bucket with an air-tight lid. The speaker hasn’t found in the need to have a tap to remove liquid. They don’t add much cooked food waste, which tends to produce more liquid.

Sustainable South Hams has shared some useful resources:
Here is a useful ‘how to bokashi’ video, which also has some practical tips on how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJSyIVoAtbI.
Bokashi bran and ‘official’ bokashi bins can be sourced from various places, including:
and
Airtight buckets are widely available online or from farm shops (for storing animal feed). 25 litres is probably the largest practical, so it is not too heavy to lift when full. That is the size that I have.
There is a video of how to make your own bokashi bran here. You need to get EM-1 (effective microorganisms), to inoculate your bran or other media, which can be found from several places online.
It would be great to hear how you get on and do get in touch if you have any questions or any interesting things that have (or haven’t) worked well.
Worm image created by Freepik