“Mom, the trash stinks! What did you put in it?!” This statement, although may sound like one of criticism, is actually one of acceptance. You see, my teen in her offhanded way told me that she has come to appreciate bokashi.
Since starting with bokashi in April, I’ve finally trained the family to put scraps in the bokashi bin, recyclables (glass and plastics) in the recycle container and paper/cardboard in the appropriate brown paper bag. By doing so, we have very little trash. Not only that, the little trash we do have doesn’t stink.
Smelly Trash
As with most teens, when faced with something unexpected, they take on that teen demeanor. When she told me the trash stinks, it was said with the “What the heck is going on?” type of intonation. She had become so accustomed to odorless trash that the odor upon opening the trash lid was unexpected.
Being the dutiful mother, I explained that I had tossed the waxed paper from the frozen salmon in the trash. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens to wax paper with raw salmon remnants on it. It wasn’t until she made her discovery that I realized I forgot to take the trash out after preparing the meal. So, she who complained the most got to take the trash out.
It’s amazing how bokashi has changed the dynamics in our household.
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It is so much easier to ‘train’ the family (and even visitors) to separate rubbish when using Bokashi. It’s more a matter of continually saying, “yep, that too!” a lot.
Being able to include meat, seafood, bones, paper, citrus, onions, etc makes it very easy for even non-gardeners and non-composters to work out what can go in.
I have taken Bokashi on holidays and had no trouble with four non-Bokashi families filling up my buckets.
I love it when the family gets what I am doing. Although I’d probably do it anyway, it’s nicer when I don’t have to fight them all the way.
I think the “yep, that too” statement is what makes it easier for folks to comply.
And yes, it is so much easier when the family is on board.