Today being World Environment Day, I want to share by experience with my fellow tunza members and ambassadors about a wonderful workshop I attended last week.

Since long time I wanted to know how we can make organic compost at home. I got virtual information regarding composting method but I wanted hands-on experience. The workshop not only widened my information on composting but  I also got to know how to upcycle the plastic material and home waste to make organic waste. Basically I learnt about Bokashi bin composting method.

Compost is an organic material that can be added to soil to help plants grow. In a simple language composting is making a pit, put your left overs like banana peel, egg shell, dry leaves etc and cover it with soil.

Bokashi bin composting is an easy way to discard food scraps and waste from yard without creating unpleasant odours. Everyone does not have so much of space and you cannot always dig the pit and check whether its ready or not. Making compost at home keeps food scrap out of landfills where they take up space and release methane gas.

Bokashi bin is basically the modern version of compost. It is a Japanese technique used with anaerobic fermentation to keep the air away. It is a mix of lactic acid, yeast and phototrophic bacteria. We have to maintain the brown and green ratios carefully to get a good organic compost.

Bokashi bin is easily available in the market but instead of buying we should go for plastic container we already have at home and that can be easily upcycled into a bokashi bin.

The lady showed us the bokashi bin that was a yoghurt plastic container, generally used in restaurants. We can re-use the plastic container for composting instead of throwing it in the garbage bin that ultimately goes to landfill.

Before you start you can write a starting date on the outside part of an air tight container.  It will take at least 2 months to get compost ready especially  in summer. During composting procedure there is a peculiar unpleasant smell and infestation but the method I am mentioning,  it will be done without creating unpleasant odors.

Composting does not mean putting all your kitchen wasted in the compost bin. We should avoid fish bones, chicken bones and cooked food otherwise it will invite rodents and street cats and lizards and insects. Most importantly bones take ages to decompose. We should put only fruit and vegetable peels. Even in ground composting we should not put cooked food.

In the composting pit we cannot see the layers of food scraps or waste we are putting but in a bokashi bin we can see the layers we are putting as well as we can always check at regular intervals how the waste is breaking down into organic compost for the soil.

To start with select a dry, shady spot near a water source for your compost pile or bin.

Keep brown and green materials as they are collected, making sure larger pieces are chopped or shredded.

First make holes in the air tight container for better air circulation. If you buy bin from the market it will have a spout for draining of the compost liquid after few weeks. But in this plastic bin you can make a hole at 4-5 places.

For a good compost we need to first put a thin layer of good moist soil that is a brown layer. Then put brown paper used for packaging. Then put crisp leaves if you have already collected from your old plants. Bokashi should not be too moist or too dry.

 Green layer includes materials such as grass clippings, vegetable waste, fruit scraps, and coffee grounds After dry brown layer we should add wet grinded layer of broken egg shells, coffee ground, banana, potato peels which have high potassium and very nutritous for plants.

After two layers  we can put semi dry—dry bougenvila, dry hay. Instead of covering the brown and green layer with a flat plastic plate use brown paper- packaging material waste. After two months it will break down. Repeat the layers in the same process.

To turn it into a compost we need a compost activator. Every layer we will sprinkle one tea spoon. We can also use cow dung to activate compost. Rabbits/ tortoise/ goat poop is a natural activator as they only eat  leaves coriander leaves, corn barley.

Handful of cow dung or compost activator is most important in making bokashi bin.

Put only thin layer of soil. Peels are the main ingredient. Soil is only to get it started.

Other good activator is yoghurt. Put a bowl of water and and beat it nicely with yoghurt. It will be  a butter milk. Keep it for 24 hours. Every layer put butter milk on the top of compost activator. Then cover it with brown paper.

You can also collect the extra liquids that drains out from the holes of the  bin once you put butter milk. That liquid is a very compost for the plants. Place one melamine plate below the bin to collect the liquid compost.

Compost should be little moist. Compost pile should have an equal amount of browns to greens. You should also alternate layers of organic materials of different-sized particles. The brown materials provide carbon for your compost, the green materials provide nitrogen, and the water provides moisture to help break down the organic matter.

Benefits of Composting

?       Enriches soil, helping retain moisture and suppress plant diseases and pests.

?       Reduces the need for chemical fertilizers.

?       Encourages the production of beneficial bacteria and fungi that break down organic matter to create humus, a rich nutrient-filled material.

?       Reduces methane emissions from landfills and lowers your carbon footprint.

Remember to tend your pile and keep track of what you put in. A properly managed compost bin will not attract pests or rodents and will not smell bad. Your compost should be ready in two to five weeks.

For a healthy and safe food supply, for a clean and sustainable environment let us all move to organic and single – use plastic living.