Food waste composting bran manufacturer Bokashi Bran will install its composting machine, the Bokashi Bran WasteStation, in the waste recycling centre of Silverstar Casino this month to test the machine in an environment with high-volume food waste.

The machine has been in test phase at Mugg & Bean, in Lonehill, for the past three weeks, reducing the food waste volume and impact on the environment for the Lonehill Shopping Centre.

The WasteStation macerates and dewaters food waste, reducing its volume by up to 80%, after which it is treated with bokashi bran and converted into compost.

“The WasteStation is suited to organisations that have high food-waste volumes, including hotels, shopping centres, conference venues, hospitals, prisons and large corporates. The machine is capable of handling 700 kg of food waste per hour,” says local Bokashi Bran manufacturer Bronwyn Jones.

She notes that in-sync macerators, which are used overseas, are not legally approved in Gauteng because of the sewage blockages they cause at sewage process plants.

Jones explains that a sewage plant has very specific microbes that deal with the effluent waste; when high volumes of food waste are sent through the sewage lines, it upsets the balance of the microbial system.

“The bokashi-treated food waste ensures that there are no unpleasant odours and, therefore, no flies or rats in the waste areas,” she says, adding that the WasteStation also reduces the cost of management.

She notes that Bokashi Bran is used to treat food waste previously destined for landfill sites. There are aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms in bokashi that work in a symbiotic relationship to ferment the food waste in anaerobic digester drums and then aerobically when combined with garden waste in the composting process.
Bokashi has been available in South Africa since 2010 and is growing in popularity, Jones adds.

Dilemma

“Gauteng has an estimated ten years of landfill space left. According to the Waste Minimisation Strategy for the City of Johannesburg, no food waste will be accepted at landfills by 2020. This situation typifies the national dilemma regarding wet food waste.”

She says that the major challenge for any recycling is the logistics of moving waste from areas of generation to areas for recycling or composting.

While Jones says her major concern is that the predicted food supply in South Africa to meet demand is under threat. “We need to feed our soils with nutrients to meet food demand in the future. Burning this valuable resource makes no sense at all for the sustainability of food security.”

She further elaborates that food waste disposed of with general garbage ends up on a landfill site, where it causes the most environmental damage: “According to the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for every 1 000 kg of food waste that is landfilled, 570 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into our atmosphere, [compared with] 6 kg of CO2 that occurs during the composting process.”

To make a sizeable contribution to reducing the impact of food waste on global warming, it has become essential to find sustainable solutions to keep food waste out of landfills, she adds.

Jones points out that traditional composting allowed for the composting of only fresh food, but mixing bokashi bran with food waste also allows for the composting of cooked food, protein and dairy.

The bokashi-treated food waste also accelerates the composting process. In a domestic composting environment, bokashi composting will turn a pile into compost in seven to ten weeks, compared with seven to ten months using traditional composting methods, she adds.

“This efficiency in conversion is increasingly being seen as valuable to farmers who can reduce input costs, and the hospitality industry [which benefits] from a reduction in wet waste removal from [its]facilities.”

Empowering Communities

She notes that the growth potential of bokashi bran lies in empowering communities to treat their own food waste, teaching them to make their own compost and then grow communal vegetable gardens to address food demand.

“Through job creation of small bokashi compost teams, I would like to see the target of no food waste at landfill being achieved. Our company is partnering with the Department of Trade and Industry to work with emerging organic-produce farmers to educate them about the benefits of bokashi-treated food waste as a viable means to enrich their soils,” she concludes.