Embracing the benefits of the Bokashi system

To begin with, Fiona says her two children weren’t too keen on the smell, but given some time, they have come to understand and appreciate the benefits of their Bokashi bin.

The Bokashi system consists of two stacked buckets (one with holes for liquid to drain from into the other) with a tight-fitting lid. In it goes the food scraps that produce a fermented material, which is then buried in the ground to allow for the composting process to finish.

“It’s great because the kids can get involved and being part of the trial has promoted loads of great conversations about decomposition, reducing food waste, doing our bit for the environment, what lives in the soil, and much more!

“The liquid that comes out of the Bokashi system is fairly potent. We have been diluting it and watering it on the plants.”

Fiona says the Bokashi system is really easy to use.

“We just sprinkle the Bokashi mix over the food scraps every other day, press it all down with an old potato masher and keep the lid on tight! After three weeks, we dig a hole in the back of the garden and chuck it in.”

What comes out of the bucket resembles a giant, colourfully-striped ice block, and the kids take turns burying the mound.

“We like the bokashi system because it doesn't take up much space and we can just have an ice cream container on the bench for food scraps and easily empty this every other day,” Fiona says.

“I have also learnt that cutting larger things into small pieces is going to make for a quicker decomposition.”

She says composting has reduced her household waste by half.

“We have been really surprised by how much we actually threw out before, and we’ve been saving a lot on rubbish bags!"

So would Fiona recommend a Bokashi bin to others?

“Absolutely! It's so satisfying to put food waste to a good use instead of it contributing to global warming in a landfill.”

Kerbside collection

In addition to the backyard composters, Council is trialling a kerbside collection of binned food scraps from 500 households on the Miramar Peninsula. The collected food waste is delivered to the Capital Compost facility at the Southern Landfill and turned into compost.

Preliminary results show that participating households are diverting an average of 3 kilograms of food waste per week from landfill, with an estimated total of about 16,442kg diverted since Para Kai launched in mid-October 2020.

The results from the Para Kai trial will be used to inform a city-wide solution for food waste. Find out more about the Miramar Peninsula Para Kai trial.