Bokashi Buckets

Question

Hello,

I am hoping that there may be some people who have had experiences with Bokashi Buckets in their childcare centre and would be willing to share their thoughts. We are looking at getting them in our centre to help with waste management but our director is a little concerned about the volume and turnaround time needed for the process. I have done the calculations on paper but thought any real life experience will help put together a full picture on how they go in centres. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Alileen

Lorina · Answer

I'm not familiar with the Bokashi Bucket but I have been researching information for you and it seems like a good idea... You put your food scraps in and it decomposes into a juice to add to the garden. Pretty Cool!
I have got some information that may help you:The Bokashi BucketBokashi Bucket - Discussion
Hope this helps!,
Lorina

Lorina · Answer

I also just found this - the Bokashi Buckets and the National Quality Standards:Childcare and Bokashi,
Lorina

Alileen · Answer

Thanks Lorina for your reply. The last link you sent through is particularly useful!

You are right about Bokashi Buckets - it's kind of an easy composting method because everything (expect for bones and avocado pits) can go in them. You add an enzyme mix for every few centimetres of food scraps and this helps the process along and is what makes it possible to put meats, citrus and other things in to the Bokashi that you can't put in traditional composting or worm farms. The juice that is created in the process can be diluted and used as a fertiliser for the garden or as a green cleaner for drains. After about 10 days the food scraps themselves can be buried in the garden. The enzymes continue to breakdown the food and it creates a nutrient rich soil for plants, veggies etc.

Thanks again for your info!!

Alileen

linsaa fdc · Answer

Hi,
I have two Bokashi buckets and they are great. We put all our fruit and veg scraps in the compost bin though and use the bokashi for meat etc. The tea you get has to be watered down a real lot so the tea goes a really long way. Also I found the mix you have to add to the bucket was the cheapest at bunnings.
Happy composting
Linsaa fdc

Lorina · Answer

Alileen,
No problem! 
Are they big enough to fit in food scraps for a large centre? Or do you need to purchase a few of them... How much food scraps can they hold?,
Lorina

linsaa fdc · Answer

The buckets are not very big and I think for a centre you would need quite a few, a few compost bins would be much cheaper. I keep my meat scraps in the bucket until its completely broken down because if you were going to bury the bucket contents after a few days it works out too expensive with the bokashi mix you may as well just bury the fruit and veg scraps straight into different spots in the garden because that works well too.. That's why we use ours only for meat scraps etc and compost all the fruit and vegie scrapes. I was tired of putting meat etc in the bin.
FYI.... did you know you can buy a bokashi for dog poo.... what a fantastic idea if you have dogs.
Linsaa fdc

Alileen · Answer

Hi Linsaa fdc,
Thanks for your reply. Its great to hear that you have had positive experiences with them and I like the idea of separating the fruit and veg for composting. Our centre is in the "country" so it's not a huge centre. I've observed the amount of scraps left over for a few weeks and whilst it does vary I think one bucket a week would meet their needs. This would mean we would need two buckets so once one if full we can leave it to continue the process a bit longer and use the second bucket and do it on a rotation system. How long does it take for you to fill up a bin and do you know the litre size of the bucket?
I have seen the dog poo one.....it does look interesting and would definitely be worth it if you had dogs!
Thanks again!
Alileen

Alileen · Answer

Hi Lorina,
If you had a large centre then you would definitely need a few buckets. The buckets I have seen are 410mm high, 310mm wide, 300mm deep and are 20 litres in volume. When you add the enzymes it starts the fermenting process and removes the liquid which would mean that the scraps would compact in the bucket taking up less room. Starter packages tend to include a "masher" to help press the scraps down and squeeze the liquid out. The other thing I like about the bucket is that you can purchase spare parts for the unit so if anything breaks you can replace it rather than have to buy a whole new unit.
Thanks again
Alileen

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