Save money, save the world
A local recycling enthusiast and business owners told of how you can save by reusing your food waste.
Would you like to help save the environment and your bank account?
Local crafter Joan Launspach invited Bronwyn Jones to her monthly Tea Talk to tell them how food waste could be recycled into good compost – and how you would help save the environment and save money by reusing your (not vrot) chicken bones, among other.
Bronwyn is the owner of a local environmentally friendly food waste management solutions company, Bokashi Bran, which she founded after discovering a better way to dispose of food waste.
“I used Bokashi, which is wheat bran inoculated with effective microorganisms used to treat food waste, and thought it was amazing. So I had to make it available to more people,” she said.
Bokashi can decompose food waste in less than half the time conventional composting methods do without unpleasant odours or attracting flies and vermin, she explained.
“In South Africa, millions of tonnes of food are wasted on landfill sites. Food waste is the third largest contributor to global warming,” Bronwyn said.
Research by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has shown that in South Africa over nine million tonnes of food, or about 30 per cent of local agricultural production, go to waste every year.
“The associated cost to society is R61,5 billion per annum,” it said.
Bronwyn is not only passionate about saving the environment and contributing to the 2020 plan to have zero per cent food waste at landfill sites, but she also has green fingers.
“I love gardening and growing my own vegetables,” she said.
How the waste management system works:
• Keep a bowl on your kitchen counter into which you put leftover food every day.
• At the end of every day, put the food on top of a layer of Bokashi in a composting bucket and close the lid.
• Do this every day, adding a new layer of Bokashi each time.
• When the bucket is full, let it stand away from direct sunlight to ferment for two weeks.
• After two weeks, drain the liquid that formed in the container by opening the built-in tap. Spray your plants with the liquid.
• Use the solids as compost for your flower and vegetable garden.
Bronwyn wants to continue working with homeowners and major companies to recycle their food waste. She is also inspired to talk to local municipalities about budgeting for the system and using it.
If you would like to attend the next Tea Talk, contact Joan on 083 326 5157.
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