Bokashi composting is the answer to the question “how do I compost in an apartment?” or “what do I do with the meat scraps and dairy that backyard piles won’t accept?” It’s a fermentation-based system that uses inoculated bran to pre-process food waste in a sealed bucket, producing pickled organic material that breaks down rapidly when buried in soil or added to a traditional compost pile.
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The technique came out of Japan in the 1980s — “bokashi” means “fermented organic matter” in Japanese. It’s been adopted across small-space and apartment composting communities globally because it solves the two biggest problems of indoor composting: smell and pest attraction. A working bokashi bucket sits under the kitchen sink, accepts essentially any food waste including meat and dairy, and produces no offensive odors when running properly.
This is the practical setup guide. Written for first-time bokashi users — apartment dwellers, condo residents, and households without traditional compost infrastructure who want to compost more comprehensively than a backyard pile would allow.
What you need
The complete equipment list:
Bokashi bucket(s). Two is the standard setup — one fills while the other ferments. Each bucket should be 5-10 gallons with an airtight lid and a drain spigot at the bottom for tea collection. Common consumer brands: Bokashi Living, SCD Probiotics All Seasons Indoor Composter, Maze Bokashi One. Cost: $60-$150 for a set of two.
DIY option: a 5-gallon food-grade bucket with airtight lid, drilled false bottom (made from a plastic grate raised 2-3 inches above the bucket bottom), and a small hose clamp valve drilled into the side near the bottom for drainage. Total DIY cost: $15-$30.
Bokashi bran. This is the inoculant — wheat bran or rice bran inoculated with effective microorganisms (EM-1), which is a proprietary blend of lactobacillus, yeasts, and photosynthetic bacteria. Available from the same brands selling buckets, plus several specialty suppliers. Cost: $15-$25 per 2-3 lb bag, which lasts 3-6 months for typical household use.
DIY option: make your own bokashi bran by mixing wheat bran with EM-1 mother culture, molasses, and water, then fermenting for 2 weeks. More complex but cheaper at scale. Most home users buy pre-made.
A masher or compactor. A potato masher or wooden tamper for compressing food scraps into the bucket. Removes air pockets, which is important for the fermentation to work. Cost: $5-$15 if you don’t already have one.
A small container for collecting kitchen scraps. Optional — a small countertop bin (1-2 quarts) for accumulating scraps before adding to the bokashi bucket once or twice daily. Reduces the number of times you open the main bucket.
Burying space. This is the often-overlooked requirement. Bokashi-fermented material needs to be buried in soil or added to a regular compost pile to complete decomposition. If you live in a true high-rise apartment with no soil access, you’ll need to find a community garden, a friend with a yard, or a municipal compost program that accepts pre-fermented bokashi material.
The setup process
Step 1: Assemble the bucket. If using a manufactured bucket, follow the included instructions for the false bottom and spigot. If DIY, ensure the false bottom is well-supported, the spigot drains cleanly, and the lid seals airtight when closed.
Step 2: Place the bucket. Under the kitchen sink, in a closet, in a basement, or in a garage. Anywhere with stable temperature (50-80°F is ideal) and out of direct sunlight. Bokashi works in slightly cooler conditions than traditional composting.
Step 3: Add a starter layer of bokashi bran. Sprinkle 1/4 to 1/2 cup of bokashi bran into the bottom of the empty bucket. This inoculates the system before food is added.
Step 4: Begin adding food scraps. Each time you add food scraps:
- Layer scraps about 1-2 inches deep on top of the previous layer.
- Sprinkle 2-4 tablespoons of bokashi bran over the new layer.
- Compact the layer firmly with the masher to remove air pockets.
- Close the lid airtight before walking away.
The compaction step matters. Bokashi is anaerobic fermentation — oxygen prevents the fermentation from working and lets putrefying bacteria grow instead. The compaction expels air and creates the conditions the EM-1 microbes need.
Step 5: Drain the tea every 2-3 days. Liquid accumulates in the bottom of the bucket below the false bottom. Open the spigot and drain it into a small container. The tea is dark brown, smells faintly of pickle vinegar (sweet-sour, not putrid), and contains beneficial microbes useful as a soil amendment or drain treatment.
Use the tea diluted 1:100 with water as a liquid fertilizer for houseplants or garden beds, or pour it undiluted down kitchen drains as a natural anti-clog treatment (the microbes break down organic buildup in pipes). Don’t drink it.
Step 6: When the first bucket is full, start the second. Seal the full bucket completely and let it ferment undisturbed for 10-14 days. During this time, start adding scraps to the second bucket.
Step 7: Bury the fermented contents after 2 weeks. Open the fermented bucket. Properly fermented bokashi has a sweet-sour pickle smell and white fungal mat patches on the surface (this is normal and indicates good fermentation). Empty the contents into a hole or trench in the garden soil 6-12 inches deep, mix lightly with surrounding soil, and cover.
In the soil, the fermented material breaks down completely in 2-4 weeks. Plants can be planted directly above the burial site after 4 weeks.
Step 8: Clean and restart the empty bucket. Rinse with mild soap and water. Don’t use bleach or strong disinfectants — they kill residual EM-1 microbes that help kick-start the next cycle. Begin again with a starter layer of bokashi bran.
The cycle: fill bucket 1 (2-3 weeks) → ferment bucket 1 (2 weeks) while filling bucket 2 (2-3 weeks) → bury bucket 1, restart, ferment bucket 2 → repeat.
What you can put in
Bokashi accepts almost everything food-related. The expanded list compared to traditional composting:
Yes:
– All vegetable and fruit scraps (including citrus, onions, garlic — no restrictions)
– Cooked food, leftovers (rice, pasta, casseroles, soups thickened)
– Meat scraps including raw and cooked, including bones (small bones; large beef femurs still take years)
– Dairy products (cheese rinds, sour milk, yogurt)
– Oily food and grease in moderation
– Eggs and eggshells
– Coffee grounds and tea bags (remove staples)
– Bread, baked goods
– Sauces and dressings in modest quantities
No:
– Liquid in large volumes (small amounts of sauce are fine; full cups of soup overwhelm the system)
– Large bones (beef femur, leg bones — these don’t ferment)
– Plastic, foil, packaging
– Diseased plant material (pathogens may survive bokashi fermentation)
– Pet waste from carnivorous animals (dogs, cats — pathogen risk; bokashi can handle herbivore manure though)
The ability to compost meat, dairy, and oils is bokashi’s key advantage over traditional composting. Apartment dwellers and small-space households previously couldn’t compost these items at all; bokashi opens up the full food waste stream.
Daily routine
Once established, a bokashi system requires about 30 seconds per day:
- After cooking or after meals, dump the day’s food scraps into the active bucket.
- Sprinkle bokashi bran over the new layer.
- Compact with the masher.
- Close the lid.
That’s it. Drain the tea every 2-3 days (about 60 seconds). Bury the fermented contents every 2-3 weeks (about 5-10 minutes including the trip outside).
Total time investment: about 5 minutes per week. Less than most kitchen cleanup tasks.
Troubleshooting
Smells like rotting garbage. The fermentation has gone wrong — usually because of insufficient compaction, too much liquid, or too little bokashi bran. Solution: add more bokashi bran (1 cup), compact aggressively, drain any standing liquid, close tightly, wait a few days. If smell persists, dump the bucket contents and restart.
Smells like pickle vinegar. Normal. This is what proper fermentation smells like.
Mold growing — green or black colors. Indicates fermentation is failing. White mold is normal and beneficial; green or black mold means putrefying organisms are taking over. Restart the bucket.
Mold growing — white patches. Normal. White fungal mat on the surface is a healthy sign of good fermentation.
No tea draining. The fermenting material may be too dry. Either you’re not adding enough scraps with moisture content or the system is genuinely producing less liquid. Not necessarily a problem; some buckets produce more tea than others.
Tea smells putrid. Same problem as bad-smelling bucket contents. Restart the bucket.
Fruit flies near the bucket. The lid isn’t sealing properly. Check the gasket and lid fit. Some bokashi buckets develop hairline cracks in the lid over years of use; a small dab of food-safe silicone can fix small gaps.
Bran is running out faster than expected. Probably using a touch more than necessary. Aim for 2-4 tablespoons per layer of scraps. More than that doesn’t accelerate fermentation; it just uses bran faster.
Burying space is limited. Some bokashi users with no garden access partner with neighbors who have yards, contribute to community gardens, or use a “soil factory” — a separate bucket of soil where bokashi-fermented material is mixed and held until decomposed, then used or distributed. Less ideal than direct burial but workable.
Cost analysis
Compared to a $30-$60 monthly municipal compost pickup or compostable bag service, a household bokashi system is dramatically cheaper at steady state.
Initial investment: $60-$200 (buckets, masher, first bran supply).
Ongoing cost: $30-$60 per year for replacement bokashi bran. That’s the only recurring expense.
Time investment: 5-10 minutes per week of active management; 5-10 minutes per cycle of burying.
Result: comprehensive food waste composting including meat, dairy, oils, and food cooked with seasonings — categories that traditional composting can’t handle.
For households generating 5-15 lbs of food waste per week, bokashi is one of the most cost-effective composting systems available.
Where bokashi fits in the broader composting picture
Bokashi isn’t a complete replacement for traditional composting in most operations. It’s a complement.
Use bokashi for: food waste that traditional composting refuses (meat, dairy, oils), apartment or small-space situations, year-round operation including cold months when outdoor piles slow, kitchen scraps that need to be processed in modest daily quantities.
Use traditional composting for: yard waste, autumn leaves, garden trim, paper and cardboard, large volumes that bokashi can’t handle.
Both together: a household that runs a backyard pile for yard waste and a bokashi bucket for kitchen waste covers the full range of compostable inputs efficiently.
For households extending the composting program into purchased compostable items like bin liners, the compost liner bags and compostable trash bags category pages cover the bag side of the system that complements bokashi and traditional composting alike.
The takeaway
Setting up a bokashi bucket system is a 30-minute project that produces years of comprehensive food waste composting capability. The required equipment is modest, the daily routine is brief, and the system handles the full food waste stream including categories that traditional composting refuses.
For apartment dwellers, the bokashi bucket is often the only realistic composting option. For households with backyards, it’s a useful complement to traditional composting that handles the food waste categories backyard piles can’t.
The fermentation-based approach feels strange at first — the idea of pickled food waste in a bucket is unfamiliar — but the operational simplicity and effectiveness become obvious within a few weeks of running the system. Most bokashi adopters wonder why they didn’t start sooner.
For B2B sourcing, see our compostable supplies catalog or compostable bags catalog.
For procurement teams verifying compostable claims, the controlling references are BPI certification (North America), EN 13432 (EU), and the FTC Green Guides on environmental marketing claims — these are the only sources U.S. enforcement actions cite.