Comments on: Bokashi Vermicomposting

By: Bentley

Bentley — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:21:02 +0000

Hi Mauricio,
While there is technically no limit to the amount of waste these sorts of systems can handle (you simply make larger systems, or many smaller systems), logistically speaking both of these methods can have some limitations. In the case of bokashi, if you make a monstrous system you will end up with a huge amount of fermented waste on your hands - material that will need to be put somewhere to complete the decomposition process. I suppose it could be spread out over fields, but you would like end up creating a pretty foul odour in the area.

Worm composting can definitely be done on a large scale, but the limitation there is the space required to handle lots of wastes. Unlike ‘hot composting’ where you can simply heap huge amounts of material in one (small) area, wastes need to be spread out very thinly in a worm composting system in order to prevent excess heating and other worm hazards (such as release of ammonia gas etc). In all honesty, I don’t know what size of system would be required for 10 or 50 tons of waste, but it would definitely need to be very large. In well-functioning industrial ‘flow-through’ system, material is often laid down in 1 inch (per day) layers - but this will certainly depend on the type of waste being processed. As you can imagine, a LOT of surface area would be required to spread 50 tons of material out in a layer 1 inch thick! But that’s certainly not to say it can’t be done.
Last year I posted a video that showed a large scale vermicomposting system used in Hong Kong. I’m not sure of the exact processing capacity but I’m pretty sure it’s tons per day. Here is the link:
http://www.redwormcomposting.com/large-scale-vermicomposting/large-scale-vermicomposting-in-hong-kong/

By: Mauricio

Mauricio — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:06:06 +0000

Bentley,
Can Vermi and bokashi transform big amounts?What indoor or outdoor area would you need to compost 10 Tons or 50 Tons of Daily organic, mainly raw vegetable and fruit waste maybe mixed with other chunks of matter?

By: Bentley

Bentley — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:18:28 +0000

Hi Steve,
Great question!
If your worm bin drains well you would probably be ok doing this, but I would definitely do so in small doses and would also test it out in part of the bin first. I’ve read that fish ‘manure’ from aquaculture doesn’t work very well as a worm food (due to the high ammonia levels, I believe), but I bet if you soaked some shredded cardboard in your fish water then feed that to your worms it would work well (again, experiment with it before going gangbusters)

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:21:11 +0000

Bentley,

Whenever I clean my goldfish bowl, I usually throw out the dirty water. But I was wondering if it was safe to use the water in my worm bin. I am extremely concerned with what I am putting in the bin because I want to use the castings on my homegrown fruits and vegetables that I will also be feeding to my children. Is the fish manure safe/beneficial for my worm bin?

By: Bentley

Bentley — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:52:02 +0000

Hi NewAlchemyGuy! (great name - I get the feeling you and I would be interested in a lot of the same stuff!)

Thanks for the positive comments. I try not to be TOO biased when it comes to any one type of composting (such as vermicomposting, which is my favourite). I feel strongly that there is no ONE solution - most of these strategies work very well together.

By: NewAlchemyGuy

NewAlchemyGuy — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:00:46 +0000

Thank you for your websites and your posts on bokashi and other composting methods.
I’m very passionate about all this and I’m working to help others better understand the entire process and show that it doesn’t require special, expensive products to compost the bokashi way. It’s all available wild and free.

: )