Local restaurant reduces food waste and helps the environment

Belinda Lombard, owner of the restaurant franchise explained that using the WasteStation was simple. “Leftover kitchen food waste [excluding oil and meats] is thrown into the WasteStation, and within seconds is macerated into a fine consistency,” she said

Lombard added that the restaurant managed to reduce 350 litres of food waste to 50 litres in 40 minutes. The WasteStation is capable of handling up to 700kg of food waste per hour.

The macerated food is then drained of excess water, stored in an airtight container and treated with bokashi bran – a product made using bran that has been infused with micro-organisms that assist in fermenting food. This is left to ferment before it is transformed into a rich compost which is used on the restaurant’s vegetable garden.

Bronwyn Jones, owner of Bokashi Bran, the company that produces the product, explained that the benefits of using bokashi bran with macerated food waste is that the waste did not rot and, therefore, did not smell, ensuring that no flies were attracted.

This according to Jones, was one of the main reasons Mugg & Bean, Lonehill and her other customers used the Bokashi Bran system bins.

The idea that waste collection costs will be reduced by using the system is based on the fact that food waste treated with bokashi doesn’t rot and smell and, therefore, doesn’t have to be collected on a daily basis as is required by law for any establishment selling food to the public.

The system has also been approved by the Joburg Environmental Health Department for use in commercial kitchens.

“We are very excited about the difference the WasteStation and bokashi bran can make to diverting food waste from landfill, making high quality compost and then feeding it back into our farmlands to reduce their reliance on pesticides while reducing input costs,” Jones said.

Michelle Townsend, general manager of Tinswalo Property Group which manages the Lonehill Shopping Centre said, in the long run, the WasteStation system would drastically reduce the centre’s food waste, however, she was not able to confirm how much this would reduce their refuse removal costs. Jones concluded, “There are so many hidden costs of waste management that few companies can give an accurate figure.”

Details: www.bokashibran.co.za