JOIN THE COMPOST REVOLUTION!

"Be part of the Solution, not the Pollution". This is the motto of Living Soil, a company spreading the word on composting with the Japanese Kyusei (Earth-saving) Nature Farming method based on anaerobic fermentation.

It could not be easier:

• Layer up your food scraps in a bucket -> intersperse with sprinkles of Bokashi, a bran-based compost starter -> put the lid on tightly and go..
• Within a couple of weeks, both liquid and solid super compost is ready to use.
• Make your house plants happy
• Help your garden grow healthy plants
• Even clean your drains with its naturally anti-bacterial action!

The problem today:

You cannot make untreated compost with cooked foods, meat, dairy products or fish

Instead of breaking down into a form which is beneficial to the ecosystem, this waste putrefies, releasing unpleasant odours and toxic gases. Flies and rats love it but they just proliferate and add to the Environmental Health problems.

© Living Soil 2004

I used to think composting was easy...

Just pile it high, let it rot down and spread it on thick. I did not expect my first compost corner to develop into a sludgy, festering heap. It was far from the rich, loamy consistency I had imagined crumbling between the fingers of my gardening gloves. I faired little better with a compost bin as I was too busy/lazy to attend to forking and layering to keep the bin aerated. Making good compost is a skill and it can take months to have anything usable.

Then I happened upon some information about Living Soil and sent off for a basic kit of buckets and Bokashi compost starter. These bags of bran are soaked in liquid EM (effective micro-organisms) a magical brew containing lactic acid bacteria, photosynthetic bactercia, fungi and yeasts. This wonder liquid starts fermentation and transforms organic waste into a form beneficial for soil regeneration and healthy plants.

We need to Save Our Soils...

When a plant grows, it takes it nutrients from the sun, water and the soil. When any of these elements are depleted or excessive, a fully healthy plant cannot develop. Modern farming methods, particularly large-scale monoculture, drain the soil and attempt to replenish it with chemicals and raw sewage. Crops are not rotated. Fields do not lie fallow. Valuable topsoil erodes and eventually barren land remains. Artificial fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides are used to force the land to produce food. Food which is less and less nutritious, tasty or hardy. Food which appears cheap but has great external costs.

Large scale farming is reliant on inputs from the petrochemical industry. If we leave it too late to change from our reliance on fossil fuels, food production will plummet if the land is not managed sustainably.

Is it really that bad?

What happens within the Environment Agency?

Some offices are compost equipped. It is feasible for many more to do so. Standard compost bins do not take cooked food but with Bokashi nearly everything can go in! You can even buy sandwiches in biodegradable cartons now. Request the caterers to order them in rather than being a passive plastic polluter.

How to get started?

Get some bins and Bokashi and start composting! You can buy specially designed compartmentalised bins from Living Soil with taps to drain off the liquid compost. The cheaper alternative is to buy your own lidded buckets, stack one inside the other and make holes in the bottom of the inner bucket to allow the liquid to drain off from the solids. Two sets are enough for an average household to keep one in use while the other ferments for a couple of weeks. You can buy bags of Bokashi bran in some health food shops or in bulk online. Create a compost club to get started.

Just about anything can go in a Bokashi bin as long as each layer gets a spinkle of bran. Normal teabags inhibit the fermentation so put only the leaves in. Herbal teabags and coffee grinds are fine but not too much liquid waste.

If you have a garden keep a traditional compost bin on the go too. They are great for garden waste, attract wildlife and the Bokashi compost can be added to the pile for later use.

The future of compost?

There are currently few kerbside collections for household organic waste in the UK but plans for many more now that councils have to meet waste reduction targets or face fines which will be added to your Council Tax. A system such as this would encourage people to participate especially if materials were provided.

People do not want to store rotting waste in their homes with the resulting unpleasant odours and flies. Bokashi transforms it into an easily useable form. The solid remains are virtually odourless and are in a state where they can be transported to allotments or farms for immediate use.

[Written for the Environment Agency, UK by L Mason, 2005]