How would you like to get rid of bad smells and stop the pests that go after your garbage (rats, dogs, flies and cockroaches) …and quit paying the city so much to hall the stuff away………and feel good about what you are doing for your planet? You can put a little money in your pocket too! It’s easy and kind of fun……..once you realize how easy it is.
You can learn a lot about bokashi fermentation if you haven’t already discovered our web-page. The FAQ section may help you in getting a sense of how easy it is to convert waste to something useful.
We all knew it was going to happen………and now it’s true…….March 30, 2009 Seattle will make the change.
Seattle to require table-scrap recycling at homes in 2009
We know composting seems to a lot of people like a “natural” and good thing to do, but it is in fact very polluting and it is expensive. A ton of organic waste can be converted to nutrient rich soil in about 3 weeks using bokashi fermentation and costs only about $30. It is currently costing the city of Seattle about $140 per ton and it takes 6 or more months to get the material composted.
http://www.newrules.org/environment/seattle.pdf
If you live in Washington State near Seattle……….you can save a lot of money by opting out of the soon to be enforced recycling program. Do you think you are paying a lot to have your garbage handled by the city? As of March 30, 2009 the citizens of Seattle will be asked to purchase another container (for their “organic waste…..food scraps) that will need to be placed curb side each week so that the G-men can send that trash up to Cedar Grove for “composting”. Wonder why your garbage bill is going to go up?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nicolebrodeur/2008871285_brodeur17m.html
Those who don’t live near Seattle probably know the writing is on the wall. The G-men will come knocking….looking for more ……..money…….not garbage!
Those of you who know about bokashi fermentation already know how easy it is to mix your garbage with bokashi culture mix and let it ferment in an air tight container. You can take all of your organic food waste (even bones, egg shells, meat, and dairy products) and convert it to fermented (pickled) waste material that will then in another 7 – 10 days in the soil make a very nutrient rich soil for planting. Instead of composting you ferment. We’ve talked a lot about this and know a lot of people have discovered how easy it is to convert their organic waste to valuable soil for the plants.
The Bokashi 1, 2, & 3!
Here is how easy it is. You need to have 2 fermenters, some bokashi culture mix, a tiny bit of land for burying your fermented waste, and organic waste (food waste) that would have ended up in your garbage can had you not started your bokashi adventure.
This is going to take about 15 minutes out of your life perhaps once a month to bury the pickled waste material in the soil…………….but you will be able to reduce the size of your garbage can and the frequency of the pick up.
When you tell the garbage collectors that you won’t need such a big can or tell them to stop by less frequently because there is no garbage for them to haul off, the bill you get each month will be $10 to $20 less than what you used to pay. That happens right away! You now get back $120 to $240 per year. It will cost you perhaps $40 per year to get the bokashi culture mix……….but still not a bad savings on your part!
Remember……you are also taking control and reducing greenhouse gases that would have been produced if you had let the G-men take it away. And you get to use the great soil in your own garden. You’ll see how much better your plants do when you get diversity back in the soil (more microbes and nutrients for the plants).
Sprinkle some bokashi culture mix in the bottom of your fermenter. Add your table scraps and food waste for the day to the bottom of the fermenter and lightly sprinkle more bokashi culture mix over the waste you added. Press down with the pressure plate and seal the container to exclude oxygen.
Next day, you do exactly the same. And so on one layer at a time until the fermenter is full. You want to drain some of the fluid off every few days….discard it down the sink or dilute it with water and add it to the house plant watering. You can also put it on the vegetable garden plants…….gets them a lot healthier.
When the first fermenter is full, put it on the bottom and begin filling the second fermenter in the same way. When it is full………it is time for your first dig!
This is the easy part. The soil microbes are so hungry…..and so efficient that you can keep putting your fermented waste in the same small area over and over if you have little land. If you had one small plot of land about 20 feet by 20 feet, you could bury 12 tons of waste material every year for the rest of your life………and you would just get richer and richer soil for your plants. Of course you want to get the soil wherever you have plants all mixed in over time so you can benefit all of your plants……..not just those near the enriched soil.
Dig a hole about 3 feet long and 1 foot deep the width of your shovel. Poor the fermented waste in the hole. Mix it with a little soil. Cover it up and you are done until next month. Before you finish up……..use the garden hose to rinse the fermenter.
Put enough water in the bottom of the fermenter so that you can clean the porcelain plate bottom. By pushing down the plate and twirling it around in the water you will clean the plate bottom and walls of the fermenter. Discard the water in the hole over your waste material that is buried. Rinse the system again to clean everything and you are done.
You can mix this soil around with soil in your garden anytime you like to get a rich better than compost soil for your garden. Just remember to give enough time for the fermented product to finish up when it goes into the soil. That takes about 7 – 10 days. You shouldn’t find any residual garbage when you dig it up after a couple of weeks if you’ve been following instructions.
So you see………it isn’t too hard to take control. It feels good to get rid of your own organic waste. It is a good feeling to know that you are making soil richer and safer for your plants and by doing so have immediately stopped the kind of polluting greenhouse gases that are made during the composting process. You got your trash out of the city system…………and isn’t it great to cut your garbage bill instead of letting it gradually rise each year. You’ll never buy one of those extra curb side containers the city wants you to get so they can send your trash to composting.