Bucket by bucket, ordinary food waste is transformed

Ever heard of a Bokashi Bucket?

North Shore resident Jim DiCarlo is hoping to get one in your hands and explain how it works as part of his Throw to Grow campaign.

A Bokashi Bucket is an anaerobic (requires no oxygen) composting system that transforms food into rich gardening soil. Throw all kinds of food scraps into the bucket, sprinkle with a special "Bokashi mix" made of wheat bran infused with microorganisms, seal tight with a lid, and eventually it will all ferment. Once your bucket is full, this mix can go into your yard.

It’s all part of DiCarlo’s mission to change the way the world thinks about waste.

"For me it’s more about changing the mindset of people — it’s a resource, not waste," he said.

While he didn’t invent the composting system, which is often attributed to Teruo Higa of Okinawa, he’s trademarked the Bokashi Bucket and sells it through Each One Teach One Farms, a for-profit he founded in 2010 to promote sustainable agriculture.

"Bokashi" means fermented organic matter in Japanese.

Besides vegetables, fruits, grains and coffee grounds, the Bokashi Bucket can compost bones and cooked or raw meat. You can also throw mac salad, cheese and chicken skin in there, too — just avoid excessive amounts of liquid.

"Essentially, what we’re doing is pickling our trash," said DiCarlo, 31. There should be no foul smell, he said, and no gases.

He said the bucket is "the fastest, cleanest, easiest way to recycle your food waste."

A former New York advertising executive who moved to Hawaii in 2006 to teach special education, DiCarlo said the 2008 documentary "Food Inc.," about food production, had an impact on him. So did his late grandfather.

He says his grandfather came to him in a dream four years ago and told him to buy land on Hawaii island. So he pulled the inheritance his grandfather left him out of the stock market to buy six acres in Puna.

DiCarlo’s vision is to start a permaculture farm — a self-sustaining farm that mimics the natural ecosystem — aswellasaneducationalcenter there.

Buying the land started him on gardening and composting. Now he’s passionate about sustainability and teaching it to others. He believes "small changes in people’s lifestyles make a big difference."

DiCarlo was stunned to learn that less than 3 percent of food waste in the United States is recycled back into soil.

He’s been selling Bokashi Buckets (including the activator mix, which he makes himself) at Oahu farmers markets for about two years. The bucket kits sell for $50 to $55; a refill jar of activator mix costs about $5.

He wants take composting to a larger scale, calling it a "new trash revolution."

In January he launched a Kickstarter.com fundraising campaign for a food-waste recycling pilot project using Bokashi technology. DiCarlo managed to raise more than $15,000 in pledges from 130 backers by Jan. 19.

With the Kickstarter funds, he plans to bring his large-scale composting system to Hawaii Pacific University’s Windward campus. He’ll be collecting food waste from HPU’s cafeteria and collecting data on how much it costs, how much land would be needed for the system and whether food pathogens are reduced during the process.

Eventually he hopes to compost waste from local schools, hotels and supermarkets using a large-scale version of the Bokashi Bucket that can handle higher volumes of food waste, with the soil product donated back to school garden programs.

Folks who pledged at least $100 in the campaign get a free Bokashi bucket system, a shopping bag and T-shirt, while those who pledged $250 get two buckets plus the shirt and bag. Those who pledged $350 get a custom, hand-painted bucket done by artists.

"People can continue to pledge if they’d like," he said, "and we’ll still honor the rewards."

As part of the campaign, DiCarlo’s friend Nathan Peracciny produced a series of videos featuring members of the sustainability movement in Hawaii. The first featured paiai (hand-pounded poi) advocate Daniel Anthony; the second, Lan Thai, chef and founder of Happy’s Hawaii; and the third, soon to come out, is on Permablitz Hawaii.

Twelve videos have been produced and can be viewed at throwtogrow.com.

Five-gallon Bokashi Bucket kits (basically a bucket inside another bucket with pre-drilled holes at the bottom and a spigot) along with starter mix are available at North Shore Organic Gardening in Waialua, Kale’s Natural Foods in Hawaii Kai and at farmers markets in Haleiwa, Ala Moana Center and Hawaii Kai.

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