Composting in the Neighbourhood

At Kaskantine we compost garden clippings and food waste that can't be salvaged or is leftover. Our composting methods vary depending on the time of year and the type of material that needs to be composted.
We believe no one method is inherently superior; it's a matter of preference, climate, and physical capabilities.

Our composting site is also for education so people can learn how to separate organic waste or compost in Amsterdam on their apartment balcony or garden.

Bokashi - Fermentation Of Food Scraps

Bokashi is a method of fermenting kitchen waste using specific types of microorganisms. Unlike traditional composting, Bokashi is done in an airtight container and can handle a wider range of food scraps, including citrus fruits. We offer a Bokashi bin for our compost club members, as part of a starter kit. Bokashi is an excellent method for composting in apartments. However, many people are unaware of the second stage, which involves processing the fermented mass, ideally burying it in the soil! If you want to join the Bokashi Compost Club and need a Bokashi bin to separate your organic waste from your food scraps, please read more here.

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Worm Compost

Often referred to as the gold of the garden, we make worm compost in a worm farm made from an old cardboard box. We  feed them pre-digested scraps from the tumblers and the bokashi bins. Worms are like pets and require careful attention! They can't handle certain types of kitchen scraps like onions and citrus. They shouldn't be overfed and they need a certain humidity and temperature. 
The worm compost is basically their castings which are periodically sifted out. We also make "worm compost tea". This is an extract from worm castings and used as a powerfull liquid fertiliser for our seedlings and in the garden.

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Hot Composting in big piles

Hot composting is processing organic waste in way that is favourable for bacteria that thrive in heat. These basteria can quickly heat up a compost pile until over 70 degrees! The advantage of this type of composting is that it kills seeds, roots and pathogens, so that you can use the compost safely in  the garden. The challenges are having all the materials available at once and turning the pile, which requires quite some physical effort. The key for the optimum growth for these bacteria is to combine nitrogen-rich material, like kitchen waste and carbon-rich materials, like wood chips, in a certain relation and make a pile of at least 1 m3.

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Hot Compost with tumblers

Tumblers are insulated containers for compost that can be "tumbled" for aeration. Although the volume of the container is much smaller than a hot compost pile they also work for hot composting, because their walls are heavily insulated so that the heat can build up easier. 

The advantage of this type of composting are that it can be kept  rodent free easily, there is controlled leakage, and less heavy labour is involved in turning the mass. This method is exclusively for food scraps as it's too small for garden waste. The downturn might be its high investment costs.