easy composting

There are many options for recycling your kitchen waste that don’t require a big, bulky compost bin. PHIL DUDMAN looks at five of them

WORM FARM

Anyone can have a worm farm, and it can be as big or small as you like. A worm farm can be kept in your backyard, in a courtyard, on a balcony or even indoors, and moved around as needed. The rich worm castings they produce can be used as a soil conditioner or a valuable additive to potting and seed-raising mixes.

There are many wonderful worm farms available, ranging from small, beautifully designed containers that look good in your kitchen, to large bins on wheels that are easy to relocate. You could also make one yourself from repurposed materials such as a plastic bin, a polystyrene box or an old bathtub. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just give it some drainage holes for the liquid leachate to escape, and keep it in a warm spot out of direct sun.

WORM TOWER

This option is essentially an in-ground worm farm. Just dig a hole and drop in the worm tower unit. You can have just one, or several dotted throughout the garden. The beauty of going below the surface is that the system connects with the surrounding soil organisms, and the leachate is released straight into the garden to enrich the soil. You can buy a worm tower, or make one using a PVC pipe or a lidded plastic bucket with lots of holes drilled in the sides and the base.

TRENCH

This takes in-ground composting to an even simpler level. All you do is dig a hole in the ground, bury your kitchen waste, then let the worms and other soil organisms work their magic. You can do this where you plan to plant a tree or start a new vegie bed, or in parts of existing beds that you’re resting. Dig a hole or trench 35cm deep and pile up the excavated soil. Fill the trench in sections with alternating layers of food scraps and high-carbon materials such as dried leaves, straw or wood shavings, then top with your excavated soil.

BOKASHI

In bokashi composting, food waste is added to a sealed bucket, inoculated with a blend of bacteria and yeasts (known as effective micro-organisms, or EM), and fermented in an oxygen-free environment. This creates acidic conditions that inhibit nasty pathogens and putrefaction, and allows you to add food waste not normally recommended for regular composting systems, such as meat, seafood and bones. Once the fermentation process is complete, the material can be added to the soil or a compost heap. Bokashi bins can be stored neatly and without odour in the kitchen. You can buy a specially designed bokashi bin, with a tap to drain the leachate, or make a simple system with two equally sized lidded buckets. EM is available from bokashi suppliers.

SHARING

If you can’t make use of your kitchen waste, you can donate it to someone who can. That could be a neighbour who makes compost or keeps chickens, or a local community garden. Apps such as ShareWaste make it easy to link up with hosts and donors around the country.