Zero Waste Composting: How to make organic enzyme with your food scrap

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

This is definitely one of the easiest method of composting and I encourage you to try it. All you need is water and brown sugar and you are ready to jump start on the zero waste exploration! I started this about 10 years ago, and my food scraps have significantly reduced by 95%.

A side benefit: You won’t have to take out the trash on a daily basis because you’d have none!

Ingredients:

• Fruit/vegetable scraps, coffee grains
• Water
• Brown sugar

Instructions:

• Any fruits/vegetable scraps will do, cut in into smaller chunks and make sure it does not touch anything that is oily (meat, bone scraps)
• Gently remove moisture with kitchen towel
• Put it in a plastic container with a cap. Do not use glass jars as the fermentation will release gas and it might explode!
• 1st time fermentation:
• Add brown sugar to the scrap. I usually put more for first time fermentation to speed up the process. The normal ratio is
• 1 (brown sugar) : 3 (fruit scrap): 10 (water)
• Make sure the the food scrap is semi-immersed in the brown sugar solution
• For the first week, if you are adding more food scraps in the meantime, you can disregard this step. However, if you’ve filled up your plast jar on day 1, make sure to open the jar every a few times a week to release the fermentation gas.
• Continue to add fruit scraps and a bit of brown sugar until the container is full. Once the container is full, do not open the lid for 1 month or so.
• The molecules will be more stable by then and is now ready for use.

Other side notes:

• Keep it in the shade
• You will end up with a mushy scrap + liquid. The mushy scrap I would mix it with soil so it becomes fertilized soil. Again wait for 1–2 weeks before adding the fertilized soil to your plants (2nd fermentation). The liquid you can store it in any soft drink bottles( these containers work best). Note that the liquid is a very concentrated solution, so you have to dilute it with water before use.
• For fertilizer: 1 fertilizer liquid: 500 water
• For cleaning: 1 fertilizer liquid: 50 water
• Citric peels gives the enzymes a light fragrance
• If the fermentation is not successful, you will know (It stinks!). To resolve, just add more brown sugar to restart the fermentation process
• If it is successful, the solution will have light fragrance and the solution would be a clear sienna brown. If you see white parts forming over time, these are actually yeasts, so don’t throw them away!

Good luck and hope you join me on the zero waste revolution!