Take the hassle out of composting with the simple Bokashi bucket system.
The Bokashi easy is a simple, straightforward composting system that deals with all of your food scraps effortlessly – even meat, bones and fish! A Bokashi bucket system helps to get rid of your food waste no matter what it is. Learn everything you need to know on the Bokashi system below!
The Bokashi Bucket system is the perfect composting system if you want a simple, easy and effortless way to divert your food scraps from landfill and turn them into a nutrient-rich resource that you can either use in your own garden or give away to your gardening loving friends!
When buying the Bokashi Buckets you need to buy two systems, so when the first bucket system is full and set aside for a couple of weeks, you can use the second bucket system to carry on dealing with your food scraps.
Collect your food scraps in a container that you keep handy in your kitchen, tip them into your bucket in a nice layer once a day, sprinkle on a tablespoon of zing and then put the lid back on.
The most common misconception about bokashi is that the compost is created in the bucket. The process begins in the bucket but it will just look like it’s slightly pickled. You may also see some white threads on the surface. This is all OK and shows a healthy system. The final composting process occurs once you’ve buried the contents into the ground.
Bokashi New Zealand has a great photo montage of how to use the Bokashi Buckets.
It didn’t turn into compost in the bucket?
This is the most common misconception about this system, that the compost is created in the bucket. The process begins in the bucket, but what you see is more of a pickling of the contents. You may also see some white threads on the surface. The final composting process occurs once you’ve buried the contents into the ground.
The liquid stinks!
The liquid will stink, almost strong enough to knock you over, if you don’t remove it every few days. The solution is to check the levels of liquid at the bottom of the bucket and empty this every few days.
How do I use the liquid?
The Bokashi liquid is one of the Bokashi bucket’s best assets – so treat it like gold! The liquid can be used in a variety of ways:
The liquid can be used in a variety of ways:
The contents of the bucket are smelly and gross!
It may be you didn’t put the lid on correctly (the system needs to be air tight) or you put some mouldy food into the bucket or possibly didn’t use enough Zing powder. Bury the contents, give the buckets a clean-out and start again. Remember, leave out those critters growing in the deepest depths of your fridge into the bucket. It’s like a battle of good and evil bacteria, we want the good to win, so don’t put mouldy food into your bucket.
Top Tip: Only open your bucket system once a day.
Remember to only put your food scraps in the bucket once a day to try and keep it air tight as much as possible. A caddy on your bench is useful for collecting your scraps throughout the day.
Where can I store the bucket?
When you’re filling the bucket, have it close at hand. Under the sink, at the back door or in the garage. Make it easy for yourself. When the bucket is full, leave it in a warm place. Laundry room/airing cupboard/north facing outside the house.
Help! I want to use a Bokashi System but I don’t have a garden to empty it into for it to carry on composting!
If you are struggling to find somewhere to bury your Bokashi contents or you don’t have access to a garden the best idea is to reach out to some of your gardening-loving friends who might be willing to bury it in their garden. Another option is to sign up to Sharewaste, where you can connect with other households who might want to use it in their gardens. Additionally, local community gardens in your area may be interested in receiving your nutrient-rich Bokashi contents!
Don’t see the question and answer to what you’re looking for? Check out the Bokashi NZ website for more answers or keep an eye out for one of our seasonal workshops.
Whether you are just starting on your composting journey or you want to improve your current composting set up, our Composting Guides will give you the knowledge to feel confident to take your composting to the next level and divert organic waste from landfill.
Kitchen scraps and garden waste make up a third of household waste. Putting them in the landfill can be harmful as organic waste releases methane, a climate change gas. The Dr Compost project helps people in the Queenstown Lakes district to reduce their waste and feed their soil by composting at home. Dr Compost is funded by Queenstown Lakes District Council and delivered by Wastebusters.
Sign up for our Wastebusters’ newsletters to stay up to date with Dr Compost’s news and events, best tips and tricks and secrets on how to compost and garden like a pro in our district.
This year our amazing Wastebusters whānau has been busy keeping everything we can out of landfill and supporting resourcefulness in our community while also working on bringing our dream of Wastebusters 2.0 into reality.
We were humbled and absolutely stoked to take home the Wānaka Chamber of Commerce Business Awards Supreme Business Award, along with the Community Contribution and Business Sustainability awards. This success was a powerful recognition of the dedicated mahi of our entire team, giving us huge confidence for the ambitious journey ahead.
We welcomed Aviette Musin on a fixed-term contract as our new Programme Manager for Wastebusters 2.0. Her expertise provided the dedicated, focused capacity needed to accelerate progress on this strategic goal.
Funding was secured through Queenstown Lakes Community Composting Project for the Compost Collect pilot, a joint venture with our neighbours Wānaka Greenwaste that will turn commercial food scraps into valuable compost, launching in 2026. We also intensified our focus on Construction and Demolition (C&D) materials, trialling diversion methodology and securing initial partnerships to divert waste from landfill. With our current site so space-constrained, we are extremely limited in the C&D materials which can be accepted for reuse, but this work will lay the groundwork for future diversion on a bigger site.
We made a compelling case to the Council for the necessary land expansion for Wastebusters 2.0 and prepared for the MfE Waste Minimisation Fund application process to support our expansion plans.
A continued focus for us this year has been on strengthening the Wastebusters whānau and ensuring we are equipped not just for the daily challenges, but for future growth. We continued to be a Living Wage employer, reflecting our commitment to the well-being and value of our staff. Feedback from the team via staff survey results highlighted strong morale and resilience within our workplace culture with 89% saying they enjoy working at Wastebusters and 93% feeling cared for by their manager.
The district’s rapid growth brings challenges as well as opportunities, particularly the Ballantyne Road/Riverbank Road roadworks which demanded flexibility and good humour from our team and customers throughout 2024. Despite the road cones, ongoing community support ensured our Reuse Shop continued to be a first choice destination for both locals and visitors. Improved donation flows and adding new changing rooms has made the shop operation smoother and more efficient for everyone.
Wastebusters’ partnership with events continues to go from strength to strength: including the trial of a food scraps collection from vendors. And our Recycle team did the huge job of relabeling all our events recycling bins to align with national recycling colours, making it easier for event-goers to know what to do. Wastebusters recycling trucks continue to be a much-loved presence in town servicing our 408 business customers, with the team doing a great job of keeping our aging fleet serviceable, in line with our kaupapa of keeping resources in use for as long as possible.
Our Reduce team has continued to deliver exceptional impact, with more than 11,000 people engaged in person through our education and engagement in the community. The Resourceful Communities programme inspires our community to take action and builds the knowledge and know how to engage in areas like repair, low waste living and textile waste diversion. It is proudly supported by QLDC’s zero waste district’s programme which recognises the impact of community connection for zero waste action.
We were stoked to join Environment Hubs Aotearoa, and we look forward to collaborating with this network and amplifying our collective impact on environmental action and resourcefulness across Aotearoa.
We worked with an impact consultant to implement an evaluation framework and behaviour change model to better plan, deliver and measure our impact, and have begun rolling out our learnings across all our programmes.
It was a busy year in advocacy, starting with participation in QLDC’s Waste Management and Minimisation Plan process. We appreciated QLDC’s approach in bringing Wastebusters and other stakeholders in early in the process, which has resulted in a constructive plan for the next six years. Wastebusters has also made submissions on national and local level, including The Right to Repair Bill, the Container Return Scheme and the publicly notified resource consent for McDonald’s in Wānaka.
Ultimately, this year has been about delivering impact while building the foundations for a much larger and even more impactful operation, securing Wastebusters’ future for our community. The heart of our work remains resource recovery and community engagement, and we enter the next 25 years of zero waste leadership with great confidence, welcome community support and an unwavering focus.
Gina Dempster
General Manager
November 2025
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