how it works

Bokashi fermentation is the simplest, least costly, and fastest way to recycle organic waste. It eliminates virtually all greenhouse gases, and sequesters virtually all carbon to the soil, where it is safely and slowly taken up by microbes, fungi and plants. Bokashi fermenting can be done all throughout the year, produces neither heat nor gases, and eliminates nuisance factors like odors and vermin.


The fermentation process is anaerobic, which means that air is effectively excluded during the process. The microorganisms use enzymes to break down the waste, creating many useful metabolites. Natural products, including plant hormones and cytokines, form and, when placed in the soil or fed to plants, these greatly improve plant activity.

Bokashi Cycle’s process is the 100% natural way to reduce, reuse, and recycle organic waste. It’s safe for you, safe for your pets, and safe for the environment. Bokashi fermenting helps reduce greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, and bad smells like hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, which are inevitably associated with composting. It is also much faster and more effective at breaking down waste than composting.

Fermenting your waste involves a similar process to making wine. Oxygen is the enemy that causes that rotting, decomposing smell. In the Bokashi Cycle system, the lack of oxygen and the relatively low acidity prevent the organisms that produce gas and smells from forming, and kills of any that were present to begin with. They are then consumed by the anaerobic organisms that thrive when oxygen is absent.

Mixing Bokashi Cycle’s bran culture with food or garden creates a recycling process that reduces the amount of waste in landfills. The processed waste ends up in your garden, where plants will get good use out of the nutrients that are produced while waste is destroyed. With Bokashi Cycle, a healthy balance of microbes go into the soil with the fermented waste, re-establishing the necessary high microbial counts always present in healthy soil.

Bokashi Cycle treated soil also improves uptake of nutrients and antioxidants, resulting in vigorous and healthy plant growth. The nutrient product and biologically active products produced in fermentation stimulate plants to grow more efficiently and productively.

Bokashi Cycle’s process is used worldwide and reduces our dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It also conserves water, and reduces groundwater nutrient leaching.
