page_title: Compost
section_title: Bokashi
hierarchical_section_title: Compost / Composting technologies / Bokashi
caption_attribution_description: English: Inside of a w:Bokashi composting bin. Food scraps are layered with the Bokashi bran which helps the food scraps ferment inside the air-tight bin.
context_page_description: Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed in a process called composting. This process recycles various organic materials otherwise regarded as waste products and produces a soil conditioner.
  Compost is rich in nutrients. It is used, for example, in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, urban agriculture and organic farming. The compost itself is beneficial for the land in many ways, including as a soil conditioner, a fertilizer, addition of vital humus or humic acids, and as a natural pesticide for soil. Compost is useful for erosion control, land and stream reclamation, wetland construction, and as landfill cover.
  At the simplest level, the process of composting requires making a heap of wet organic matter, such as leaves, grass, and food scraps, and waiting for the materials to break down into humus after a period of months. However, composting can also take place as a multi-step, closely monitored process with measured inputs of water, air, and carbon- and nitrogen-rich materials. The decomposition process is aided by shredding the plant matter, adding water and ensuring proper aeration by regularly turning the mixture when open piles or "windrows" are used.
context_section_description: Bokashi is not composting as defined earlier, rather an alternative technology. It ferments (rather than decomposes) the input organic matter and feeds the result to the soil food web (rather than producing a soil conditioner). The process involves adding Lactobacilli to the input in an airtight container kept at normal room temperature. These bacteria ferment carbohydrates to lactic acid, which preserves the input. After this is complete the preserve is mixed into soil, converting the lactic acid to pyruvate, which enables soil life to consume the result.
  
  Bokashi is typically applied to food waste from households, workplaces and catering establishments, because such waste normally holds a good proportion of carbohydrates; it is also applied to other organic waste by supplementing carbohydrates. Household containers ("bokashi bins") typically give a batch size of 5–10 kilograms (11–22 lb), accumulated over a few weeks. In horticultural settings batches can be orders of magnitude greater.
  Bokashi offers several advantages:
  Fermentation retains all the original carbon and energy. (In comparison, composting loses at least 50% of these and 75% or more in amateur use; composting also loses nitrogen, a macronutrient of plants, by emitting ammonia and the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide.)
  Virtually the full range of food waste is accepted, without the exclusions of composting. The exception is large bones.
  Being airtight, the container inherently traps smells, and when opened the smell of fermentation is far less offensive than decomposition. Hence bokashi bins usually operate indoors, in or near kitchens.
  Similarly the container neither attracts insect pests nor allows them ingress.
  The process is inherently hygienic because lactic acid is a natural bactericide and anti-pathogen; even its own fermentation is self-limiting.
  Both preservation and consumption complete within a few weeks rather than months.
  The preserve can be stored until needed, for example if ground is frozen or waterlogged.
  The increased activity of the soil food web improves the soil texture, especially by worm action - in effect this is in-soil vermicomposting.
  The importance of the first advantage should not be underestimated: the mass of any ecosystem depends on the energy it captures. Plants depend upon the soil ecosystem making nutrients available within soil water. Therefore, the richer the ecosystem, the richer the plants. (Plants can also take up nutrients from added chemicals, but these are at odds with the purpose of composting).
caption: Inside a recently started bokashi bin. Food scraps are raised on a perforated plate (to drain runoff) and are partly covered by a layer of bran inoculated with Lactobacilli
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