“The totally natural way to reduce, reuse and recycle organic waste”

Children from Hong Kong in the Bokashi 140litre Bin Trial

Hong Kong produces in excess of 3000 tonnes of waste per day of which 36% is food waste.

Primary schools are wasting around 10 tonnes per day and a pilot scheme has been implemented by Greeners Action, in conjunction with Good Council Catholic Primary School to encourage children to value food and reduce and reduce food waste from their school lunches.

Children have been using bokashi to process their food waste and have been trialling 140 litre bins as part of a pilot scheme. Children are learning hands on composting and are using the material in their school gardens.

To date feedback has been excellent and other schools are showing interest.

The bins and CompostZing food waste inoculant are supplied from New Zealand by ZingBokashi.

There was a local Hong Kong TV news feature about the Bokashi Food Waste Recycling System (140L) and this was broadcasted on 5th April. You can have a look from the following link:  Hong Kong TV News Feature

Q.  How often should I add my food scraps to my bucket and can I accumulate them over a couple of days if I only have a small amount each day.

A.  Best practice is to add your scraps to your bucket daily, even though you might only a very small amount. Adjust the amount of CompostZing added accordingly.

Q. Once the food scraps have finished fermenting how deep does it need to be buried in the soil? Also how long do I have to wait before I can add more material into the same area of garden?

A.  A trench approx 1 metre long by 30 cm deep and 30cm wide is sufficient to bury the contents of a 15 litre bucket full of fermented food waste. This should be covered over with 75mm –100mm of soil. To speed up the process it helps by sprinkling a little soil over the waste before covering and using a sharp spade ‘cut’ some soil down into the food to allow some mixing.

You should be able to repeat the process again within around 6 weeks and this is a great way to build up a poor soil with repeated applications.

Last week I attended a council meeting to speak about the use of CompostZing for large scale food waste processing

When I mentioned about utilising greenwaste as a suitable material for mixing with food waste I was questioned ‘What is Green Waste’

This was an excellent question as this can be confusing as greenwaste, in reality is high in carbon and these materials in composting terms are called ‘browns’.

Materials high in nitrogen are referred to as ‘greens’ and one can easily become confused with these terms.

Examples of ‘Greens’ (Nitrogen containing) are lawn clippings / food waste/ coffee grounds/ animal manures/seaweed / fur and hair / feathers and green leaves.

The ‘Browns’ (Carbon rich) are dry leaves, green weeds/sawdust/bark/newspaper / tree branches and plant foliage.

Generally greens and browns are mixed together to make compost.

Q.  If I want to add the contents of my Zing Bokashi bucket directly into my compost heap what is the best way to do this?

A.  Food waste, even when in a fermented state is regarded as a ‘green material’ and should be mixed into the heap with ‘browns ‘ as a cover . To do this simply add the fermented food into the heap and then mix and cover over with brown material.

For best results a cover over your heap will maintain moisture levels within the heap and keep rain out.