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Tangentially, if you want to reduce the waste that goes to landfill at your home, compost. One of the best ways of composting that I know is bokashi. It works

Tangentially, if you want to reduce the waste that goes to landfill at your home, compost. One of the best ways of composting that I know is bokashi. It works by a fermentation process. The biggest advantage of it is that you can put any organic matter into it, except maybe bones. Yes, you can even put meat, dairy, rice, pasta etc. in addition to fruit and vegetable matter. Once the bucket is full, let it ferment for a week, drain the liquid once a day, and then bury it. The fermenting for a week means that it breaks down much quicker in the ground. This means that all that waste becomes usable and useful to the bacteria and plants in the soil much much quicker than if you were to compost it the traditional way. It's a difference of weeks vs. months. One of the biggest concerns is smell, but honestly it isn't so bad. Because it works by a fermentation process you need to keep the environment anaerobic i.e. lacking oxygen. That means keeping the bokashi bucket sealed most of the time, so you only need to smell it when you open the bucket to put your waste in once a day. Besides, the smell itself is as bad as you might expect. It's like a strong pickled smell, reminiscent of vinegar. Also, the liquid that you drain can be used as a fertiliser. You just need to dilute it 1:100, and pore it at the base of the plants when watering.

wil421 9y ago
Sources or directions? Highly interested in doing this. I have a decent garden going and I've been looking at options for composting.
- wavefunction 9y ago
  It's a little corny but Austin Energy put out a youtube video with a good broad overview of composting. You'll have to ignore the Austin-specific content like the $75 rebate Austin Energy offers to subscribers that purchase a qualified composter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBFMxFtsjfs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBFMxFtsjfs Austin also offers in some parts of town curbside composting and we have a non-profit that also offers a compost pickup service. Those aren't likely to appeal to a gardener though. I purchased a Yimby spin-composter which has worked great for composting organic material: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvuWJWW4ZLw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvuWJWW4ZLw The assembly is a bit involved though, because you have to screw together all of the panels in the tumbler and the ends and the stand and the hardware. Just a head's up, lots of tedious screwing of the parts together but it is very sturdy.
- vram22 9y ago
  Yes, I too would be interested in more details on how to implement the bokashi method of composting. I googled a bit but did not find detailed instructions, though will try again.
positr0n 9y ago
If you have a lawn the best way is to skip the fancy products and instructions and just dump in a pile in the corner of your yard/garden. I also have a geobin[1] and I love it. It appears to last forever, looks neater and works faster than a pile, and unloading or turning is a breeze since you just "unwrap" the compost. Either route you go if you just dump organic matter in your pile you'll have rich compost at the bottom in a year of no effort (worse case 2 years if you put in a large quantity of tough, unshredded leaves like oak). If you know what you are doing and mix the right carbon/nitrogen ratio and water/turn it regularly you can have compost in months. [1]: http://geobin123.com/using-geobin http://geobin123.com/using-geobin
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
irpapakons 9y ago
I was recently effectively forced to compost, when my council changed the rubbish collections to only once every 2 weeks, while the recycling and compost collections occur weekly. This meant that if I didn't compost, I'd have smelly rubbish for two weeks at a time. It is indeed not that bad, the compost bin has a lid that keeps the smell and it has made me much more aware of how much food I waste and why.
legulere 9y ago
Doesn't that lead to a huge amount of salt getting in your soil?

wil421 9y ago

Sources or directions? Highly interested in doing this. I have a decent garden going and I've been looking at options for composting.

wavefunction 9y ago
It's a little corny but Austin Energy put out a youtube video with a good broad overview of composting. You'll have to ignore the Austin-specific content like the $75 rebate Austin Energy offers to subscribers that purchase a qualified composter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBFMxFtsjfs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBFMxFtsjfs Austin also offers in some parts of town curbside composting and we have a non-profit that also offers a compost pickup service. Those aren't likely to appeal to a gardener though. I purchased a Yimby spin-composter which has worked great for composting organic material: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvuWJWW4ZLw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvuWJWW4ZLw The assembly is a bit involved though, because you have to screw together all of the panels in the tumbler and the ends and the stand and the hardware. Just a head's up, lots of tedious screwing of the parts together but it is very sturdy.
vram22 9y ago
Yes, I too would be interested in more details on how to implement the bokashi method of composting. I googled a bit but did not find detailed instructions, though will try again.

positr0n 9y ago

If you have a lawn the best way is to skip the fancy products and instructions and just dump in a pile in the corner of your yard/garden. I also have a geobin[1] and I love it. It appears to last forever, looks neater and works faster than a pile, and unloading or turning is a breeze since you just "unwrap" the compost. Either route you go if you just dump organic matter in your pile you'll have rich compost at the bottom in a year of no effort (worse case 2 years if you put in a large quantity of tough, unshredded leaves like oak). If you know what you are doing and mix the right carbon/nitrogen ratio and water/turn it regularly you can have compost in months. [1]: http://geobin123.com/using-geobin http://geobin123.com/using-geobin

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

irpapakons 9y ago

I was recently effectively forced to compost, when my council changed the rubbish collections to only once every 2 weeks, while the recycling and compost collections occur weekly. This meant that if I didn't compost, I'd have smelly rubbish for two weeks at a time. It is indeed not that bad, the compost bin has a lid that keeps the smell and it has made me much more aware of how much food I waste and why.

legulere 9y ago

Doesn't that lead to a huge amount of salt getting in your soil?