You produce food waste every day. Vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, leftover rice, a chicken bone, some cheese rind. Most of it goes in a bag, then in a bin, then in a truck, then in a landfill — where it rots without oxygen and releases methane, a greenhouse gas roughly 28 times more potent than CO₂ over a 100-year period (per IPCC estimates).
There's a simpler option. One that works in a flat, doesn't require a garden, and handles most of the food waste — including the meat, dairy, and cooked food — that traditional composting rejects.
It's called bokashi. And it's been quietly transforming kitchen waste into living soil for decades.
Bokashi is a Japanese term commonly used in gardening circles to describe fermented organic matter. The method uses inoculated bran — wheat bran seeded with beneficial microbes, mainly lactic acid bacteria — to ferment food scraps in a sealed, airtight bin.
This is not decomposition. It's fermentation — the same process that makes yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi. The microbes pickle your food waste instead of letting it rot. The result is a preserved, acidic pre-compost that breaks down rapidly once buried in soil.
Traditional composting relies on aerobic decomposition — oxygen, turning, time, and patience. Bokashi is anaerobic — sealed, fast, and hands-off. You don't turn it. You don't aerate it. You layer scraps with bran, seal the lid, and wait.
How to use it: Add a handful of bokashi bran to the bottom of the bin. Add your food scraps — most food scraps. Press them down firmly to remove air pockets. Add another handful of bran. Seal the lid tightly. Repeat every time you have scraps to add. The bin has a tap at the bottom for draining liquid — "bokashi tea" is commonly used as a plant fertilizer when heavily diluted (around 1:100 with water).
Once the bin is full, seal it shut and let it sit for 14 days. The microbes ferment the waste — you'll notice a sweet, tangy smell, not rot. After 14 days, bury the fermented waste in soil — a garden bed, balcony planter, or large pot — covered with 15–20 cm of soil. Over the following two to four weeks, soil organisms finish the job and it becomes dark, rich soil.
What makes bokashi useful: it handles meat, dairy, cooked food, citrus, and oils — the kinds of scraps traditional composting rejects because they attract pests or create anaerobic pockets. Diverting that waste from landfill means it skips the anaerobic conditions that produce landfill methane in the first place. And because the bin is sealed, it works indoors, tucked under your counter.
Bokashi composting is ideal for flat dwellers, renters, balcony gardeners, and anyone who wants to close the loop on food waste without a garden. Grown.'s Bokashi Starter Kit — bin, tap, and bran — is in early access now: browsable today, waitlist only while we finish getting fulfilment ready. Join the waitlist and we'll let you know the moment it ships.