We shared some thoughts on composting, why it’s great for our planet, and how you can get started here.

But given the reality that many of us now live in apartments with little to no garden space, we thought Bokashi deserved its own post.

Why Try Bokashi?

• Bokashi is a lot more versatile than a traditional compost bin – you can compost many more things including cooked and raw food scraps, bones, meat, citrus and dairy.
• Bokashi uses a sealed container – so no bugs or pests will be able to sniff it out.
• It’s very low maintenance and doesn’t involve worms, so you can forget it for a month without a worry in the world.
• The bin can be kept inside and mostly doesn’t depend on the sun.
• The bins are small and compact but last a surprisingly long time between emptying (around 2-4 months). 

How?

1. Get your hands on a Bokashi Bucket with a tap. You can buy one or make it – we found some options here:
   • Bunnings or your local hardware/gardening store
   • Bokashi One
   • Get your hands dirty – One Million Women has this great article on making your own. 
2. Once you’ve got your bucket sorted, you can start adding scraps, including:
   • Raw food scraps
   • Dairy
   • Citrus
   • Bones and meat (however, try to avoid large bones.)
   • Egg shells
3. Between the scraps, sprinkle a bacterial inoculant – this is mostly to keep the smell away and can be purchased (try here or here) or homemade (check out this recipe). You can expect a 5L bag to last around 2-4 months.
4. After a few days or a week, you’ll be able to get juices out of the tap in your bin. This can be diluted with water (approx. 1 capful juices:10L water) and fed to plants to keep them healthy. Keep draining regularly so your bucket doesn’t get too heavy and gluggy. 

Now what?

So now you’ve got a bucket full of Bokashi – now what? 

If you have a yard and garden, you can use your own compost on to keep your garden happy and healthy – compost acts as an excellent soil conditioner by improving soil fertility and encouraging plant growth. 

If you live in a small apartment or don’t want a garden – no worries! You can still help by donating your scraps or compost to others who can use it. 

• Offer it to friends and family with gardens
• Donate it to a community garden
• Check out one of these sharing websites:
• Sharewaste – Australia-wide website that helps you find nearby composts to donate your scraps to.
• Recycling Near You – a similar idea to Sharewaste, this website allows you to look up where you can recycle just about anything – including food scraps.
• The Sharing Map Sydney – you can use this website to search for community gardens who may use your scraps.
• Brisbane City Council – lucky Brisbane! Your council has provided a composting hub directory and map for you to use.
• The Sydney Compost Exchange – a small community Facebook group with some great post shares, and a place to find other people who want your compost. You can probably also find other exchanges in your local area by searching Facebook. 

More Resources

If you’re looking for more information, try these gems:

1. Happy Earth: Sustainable thinking and self-sufficiency, especially in the garden.
2. Face Down Waste: A wealth of information on everything from composting to zero waste living.

Are you doing great things for our planet? Share it on Instagram or Facebook with the tag #nfnakedplanet for your chance to win an $100 voucher at your nearest Naked Foods or the online store! Winner announced on September 10th 2018.

Words by Amy Fraser.