Tribe, as part of my zero waste lifestyle there are two essential steps in the waste management routine at home, first recycling and second composting. Over the years, I tried many different techniques of composting at home. I made my own DIY composting unit and even tried an easy instant organic fertilizer recipe, out of food waste. However, out of all composting methods, Gobble is the most convenient and effective so far. Since I started using Daily Dump’s Gobble, composting is easier than I could ever imagine. Now I compost almost the entire organic waste from my kitchen and balcony garden.
Before we move on to talk about Gobble composting, let’s look at why we should compost?
Benefits of Composting
When we dump the food waste and other organic waste like garden waste into a trash bin, it ends up in the landfill. Where it decomposes and emits greenhouse gases (GHG) like methane, which further contributes to global warming and climate change. So it’s important to divert the organic waste from landfills and instead make soil out of it by composting it. This way you can reduce GHG emissions directly.
Additional environmental benefits of composting are you get nutrient-rich natural fertilizer which can nourish your garden and help in growing your own organic food. This is exactly what I do at my home!
How to Set up Composting Station at Home
Watch our video tutorial about ‘how to set up recycling and composting unit at home’.
How does Gobble work?
Gobble is a simple home composting unit, lightweight, almost maintenance-free. Gobble kit consists of plastic buckets with covers, hand gloves, remix powder or bran, a packet of compost microbes, and neem power for pest control along with the instruction sheet. These buckets and covers have holes for breathing. I have Gobble Senior which has 4 containers and can handle daily 1 kg organic waste. You can also get a smaller Gobble Junior with 3 containers, which is good for a family of 3 and can compost 500 gm of daily kitchen waste. Because it’s a stackable unit, you don’t need much floor space to keep this unit. It can fit easily in a small corner on a balcony or terrace.
Gobble is super easy to use, you just need to follow the instructions and start putting your kitchen waste in the containers daily. You just need to remember adding remix power at the end of the day to balance the wet and dry waste or in other words green and brown waste. Once your top bucket is full, add a spoonful of microbes power, mix it, and just move it to the bottom and bring the bottom one on top. You can name the buckets, A, B, C, D to make it even easier. Start filling up the next container. You need to stir the compost once a week in all the buckets and finally, it needs to be transferred to the base unit. It takes around 6 weeks for compost to be ready to use as fertilizer. The ready compost heap smells like wet earth. You just need to sieve the compost before using it as a nutritious natural fertilizer, if there is anything that is not fully composted, toss it in the compost bin again.
The best feature about Gobble is it’s smell-free and hardly creates any mess. You can just wipe clean these containers. Just make sure to keep the gobble on a flat surface, away from direct sunlight for effective results. Gobble is an outdoor composting unit, however, rest assured that it’s rodent-free. There is hardly any pest issue, as long as you balance the wet and dry waste. Plus neem powder from the Gobble kit is very effective to get rid of any unwanted pest, insects in the compost. But remember maggots, insects, larvae, which are more common in summer actually help in speeding up the composting process. If the compost is too moist, you will see more worms. You can also use a homemade spray of turmeric or minced garlic or green chilies for pest control.
Kitchen Waste to Garden Fertilizer Using Gobble
I have placed my Gobble on the balcony, next to my recycling station. I have assigned small earthen wear (repurposed biryani pot) to collect the kitchen waste. I keep this pot next to the kitchen sink, where I can easily collect my wet waste like vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, etc throughout the day. Before emptying the container in Gobble, I just make sure that food scraps are smaller in size. For example, if there are eggshells, I just quickly crush them or chop bigger size food scraps and vegetable peels.
Every morning, I spend some time in my balcony garden tending to my plants. So if I am trimming the plants or if there are dried leaves, I directly throw them in the compost bin. I regularly follow a pest control routine in my balcony garden, where I mainly use neem oil spray, now additionally I spray it on the Gobble as well as sprinkle some neem powder (which comes with Gobble) inside the Gobble pot (just need it in the top one for my unit).
Every day, when I am dropping my last batch of kitchen waste, I cover the organic waste in Gobble with a handful of remix powder or crushed dry leaves or sand or old soil. Once the top bucket of Gobble is filled up, just need to sprinkle the activator powder and move the bucket at the bottom and start filling the next bucket. It is as simple as that. Once or twice in a month, I fertilize my plants with homemade compost at the same time I turn the compost in other buckets. So maintenance wise it’s really very simple and not time-consuming at all.
Here are some of the notes from my experience. The composting process happens faster in summer than in winter. If you are growing delicate edible plants like vegetables and herbs (like me), better to cure the compost a month and a half more after the compost is ready. You can also add buttermilk or curd if the compost is too dry. You can add compost as a top layer to the plant or for potting use 1/3 compost, 1/3 soil, and 1/3 sand.
So now entire organic waste generated at my home is composted and turned into soil plus I get a much better harvest from my organic edible garden on the terrace. Moreover, surplus compost is always available for gifting. Remember last December when I was invited to Dubai Eye studio to talk about ‘sustainable gifting‘ on radio, I gifted my homemade compost to radio presenters? And the compost I gifted everyone who attended the Sustainability Tribe event about ‘sustainable home and garden’. All of that compost was made using Gobble.
Previously I was making compost at a very small scale so it was mainly just me who used to keep aside organic waste and the rest of the family was not as involved. But now because of Gobble, as I mentioned earlier I now compost the entire kitchen waste, and our whole family is involved in composting activity. It took my husband a while to get used to throwing organic waste in the assigned container in the kitchen instead of the garbage bin. There are days when he keeps asking me if it’s okay to drop this and that in the compost bin? Honestly, the answer to what all you can compost in Gobble is, everything!
What Can you Compost in Gobble?
Generally, the kitchen waste at my home is mainly plant-based along with eggshells and milk products as we prefer more of a vegetarian diet at home. However, Gobble can handle all kinds of organic waste including chicken or fish bones, human hair or nails, dairy products, and whatnot. Honestly, that is the magic of the natural composting process. However, the decomposition rate varies for different foods and organic waste. The harder the items to decompose, the longer it takes for our compost to get ready. So for example, when I drop avocado pit or thick twigs, it takes longer for them to decompose. So if the rest of the compost is ready I just transfer those half decomposed items to the next bucket for another composting cycle. That is why sieving the ready compost is an important step.
Some organic waste actually helps compost to work faster or to add nutrients to the compost, for example, stale bread. If you add steel scrub it helps in making your compost rich in iron. If you add banana peels, it adds phosphorous content in the compost. The animal bones can increase the calcium content of the compost. I personally love adding coffee grounds, as it’s a great fertilizer plus it also helps as a pest control. So if I have enough coffee grounds (dried) to cover the batch of kitchen waste, I skip adding remix powder. I make compost not only to turn, my kitchen waste into the soil but also with the intention of creating a better fertilizer for my edible garden, that is the reason I try to use lesser remix powder if I have better alternatives to enhance the quality of compost.
If you are looking for a composter for an apartment, I highly recommend Gobble. It is a great food waste recycling method and you can just start using it without any prior knowledge of how to make compost. For ordering Gobble in UAE, contact local distributor Sudha Velugula on 055 554 6858 or email sudhavelugula@gmail.com.
Lastly, let me remind you, even if you start composting your kitchen waste, it is not an excuse to waste food, so here are some tips for reducing food waste at home.
Inspired enough to make your home more sustainable?
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