How to Make a DIY Bokashi Bin
Make a homemade bokashi bin that will enable you to compost cooked kitchen waste like meat, fish, bones, or dairy. This simple and effective system uses affordable and recycled materials in a design that is easy to build and use. Upscale to larger buckets, dependent on the amount of waste you produce. This project is from the book The Ecological Gardener by Matt Rees-Warren
Servings 1 Bokashi bin
Cost $25
Equipment
- 6–8 mm drill bit (15/64" in the USA)
Ingredients
- 2 plastic buckets with lids (15-20 liter / 4-5 gallon)
- inoculated bokashi bran
Instructions
- Source two used 15–20l plastic buckets with sealable lids. You can find them through farm, food or building trades.
- Using a 6–8mm drill bit, drill approximately 15–20 holes in the bottom of one of the buckets. Be careful not to crack the bottom by drilling the holes too closely together (figure 1).
- Place the bucket with the holes inside the bucket without, and begin filling with food waste. Add the organic waste in batches, rather than singular items, in order to create layers (figure 2).
- Then place a layer of inoculated bran over the top and seal the lid shut until you have more waste to add (figure 3). Inoculated bran refers to flaky organic materials – typically wheat bran – mixed with what are known as Effective Microorganisms (EM-1) and some sort of fuel for these microbes, such as molasses. You can make your own inoculated bran by raising your own EM-1 culture, or buy a branded bokashi mixture that already contains it. The former takes time to produce while the latter costs money – the eternal conundrum.
- Once the bucket reaches a quarter full, take the top bucket out and collect the liquid or ‘tea’ from the bottom bucket. A tap can be affixed to the bottom to make this easier (figure 4).
- Once the top bucket is full, set aside for two to three weeks, draining the liquid regularly to allow the waste to ferment. Then take the waste and add it to an existing compost pile. The liquid is an extremely potent, but acidic, inoculated natural fertilizer that can be diluted to a ratio of 50:1 (water:concentrate) and applied directly to the plants or soil.
Video
Notes
This piece is an excerpt from The Ecological Gardener (Chelsea Green Publishing, April 2021) by Matt Rees-Warren and is reprinted with permission from the publisher.