No Garden? No Problem: How Bokashi Makes Compost Anywhere Possible

Composting Isn’t Just for Gardeners

When most people think of composting, they picture a big heap at the end of a garden or a row of bins steaming away behind a fence. However, here’s the problem: 12% of UK households lack access to a private garden (ONS, 2020).

That means millions of people, especially those in flats or rented accommodation, are effectively shut out of conventional composting. The food scraps pile up, the bins smell, and valuable nutrients are lost to the waste system.

But composting doesn’t have to be out of reach. With a small container, some clever microbes, and a method called bokashi, anyone can compost at home, even in a studio flat.

How I Started Composting in a Studio Flat

When I first began, I didn’t have land. I didn’t even have a garden. Just a tiny studio in Bristol, a few scraps from cooking, and a plastic bucket I’d rescued.

That’s when I discovered bokashi fermentation. Instead of needing space and oxygen like a traditional compost heap, bokashi uses a mix of microbes (lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, actinomycetes) to ferment food waste in an airtight container.

Layer after layer of scraps and bran, the bucket filled. Within weeks, instead of a smelly mess, I had a nutrient-rich, pickled pre-compost that I could return to soil when I visited a community garden.

That bucket changed my life. It was a turning point in reconnecting with nature, in realising that compost isn’t about space, it’s about microbes.

Why Bokashi Works Anywhere

Bokashi is different to conventional composting for a few key reasons:

• Space-efficient: All you need is a sealed bucket. Perfect for kitchens, balconies, or utility cupboards.

• Smell-free: Because it ferments without oxygen, there’s no rotting smell, just a slightly sweet, yeasty scent.

• Fast: Scraps break down in weeks, not months.

• All scraps welcome: Unlike standard compost, bokashi can handle cooked food, bread, citrus, and even small amounts of meat and dairy.

And perhaps most importantly: it’s accessible. Anyone can do it, whether you live in a flat, a terrace, or a house with no outdoor space.

The Science Behind Bokashi

The power of bokashi lies in its microbes. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in bokashi bran:

• Produce antimicrobial compounds that suppress pathogens.

• Pre-emptively colonise plant tissues, outcompeting harmful microbes.

• Boost plant immune responses, making crops more resilient to disease.

In other words, bokashi doesn’t just recycle nutrients. It actively improves soil health and resilience when added to the land.

This microbial dimension is often missing from industrial composting, which prioritises volume and energy generation. Bokashi brings the biology back.

Why It Matters for Cities Like Bristol

Food waste isn’t just a household nuisance. It’s a systems issue. Globally, wasted food accounts for around 8–10% of greenhouse gas emissions, surpassing aviation.

In Bristol, most food waste is sent to anaerobic digestion plants. While this generates biogas and energy, it doesn’t always prioritise soil health. Digestate, the by-product, can contain microplastics, heavy metals, and even traces of antibiotics.

Community-scale bokashi, by contrast, produces a clean, microbe-rich amendment that can help regenerate urban soils, including allotments, parks, school gardens, and community plots.

From Buckets to a Movement

What began for me as a single bucket in a studio flat has grown into Generation Soil: a project that now collects food scraps across Bristol, ferments them with bokashi, and returns them to land as living compost.

We believe that composting isn’t just about waste management, it’s about regeneration. It’s about transforming scraps into soil, and soil into resilience.

Our vision is a Bristol Living Compost Project: a decentralised network of households and community hubs, each playing their part to keep nutrients local and rebuild our city’s soils.

How You Can Start Today

You don’t need a garden to join the soil revolution. Here’s how:

1. Sign up for our mailing list to receive our free Beginner’s Guide to compost, microbes, and regeneration.

2. Join the Bristol Living Compost Project (if you’re in Bristol) → We’ll collect your scraps and return them as compost for community growing.

3. Book a workshop → Hands-on learning for households, schools, and community groups.

4. Purchase living compost → Support our mission while enriching your own plants and soil.

5. Volunteer with us → at our two-acre food forest market garden, social media, office + admin.

Soil doesn’t just grow food.

It grows health.

It grows connection.

It grows resilience.

And it can all start with a bucket in your kitchen.