The right answer for every role in your business.
The 2027 deadline affects your kitchen, your costs, your ESG report and your staff. Select your role below to see exactly what the Bokashi Bran system means for you.
WHY BOKASHI BRAN
Solutions tailored to every role. Value across your organisation.
A system that runs itself.
Once trained, your team runs it. We handle the rest.
- System runs itself once trained.
- SCHWAS team framework embeds accountability in existing staff.
- No equipment to maintain or purchase.
- Training videos available on protal24/7.
- Collections managed and reported.
The challenge you face
As a GM or Operations Manager, you know that adding a new environmental programme to an already stretched kitchen team is a significant ask. Staff turnover is high, shift patterns are complex, and anything that requires sustained management attention tends to drift. You need a solution that embeds itself into the operation — not one that depends on you to keep it alive.
How the Bokashi Bran® system works operationally
The system is designed around your existing kitchen structure. Food waste drums sit next to every dustbin in the kitchen. Staff separate food waste at source — all cooked and uncooked food, meat, dairy, bones — into the blue drum. A measured dose of Bokashi Bran® inoculant is added every 7cm of food waste. The drum is sealed. That is the entirety of the daily task.
Collections are managed by Bokashi Bran — 1 to 3 times per week, depending on your volume. Drums are weighed and recorded on the Bokashi Bran app at collection. Monthly reports are generated automatically. An annual IEMA-certified carbon certificate is issued without you needing to ask for it. Nothing falls through the cracks.
Cost-neutral or better.
One hotel saved R18,516 in year one. Here’s how the numbers work.
- Anonymous hotel case study: switched from R18,059/month (signs contractor) to lower blended cost with full compliance.
- Up to 40% reduction in general waste bins (food waste is typically 40% of kitchen waste).
- Future penalties for non-compliance avoided.
- Cost neutral in many cases – T&Cs apply.
- Carbon certificate supports ESG reporting (no additional consultant cost).
The questions you’re asking
Is this an added cost or a manageable one? Can the savings on general waste disposal offset the cost of the Bokashi Bran service? What happens if we don’t comply with the 2027 deadline — what does that exposure look like financially? These are the right questions, and we have verified answers to all of them.
The cost case – a real example
A hotel in KwaZulu-Natal had been contracting a single general waste management company for all waste at R18,059 per month. After implementing Bokashi Bran, waste streams were separated: general waste moved to a specialist contractor, food waste moved to Bokashi Bran, and a municipal organics levy was absorbed as a new line item. The total monthly cost dropped. Compliance was achieved. The carbon certificate arrived without any additional effort.
COST COMPARISON — ANONYMISED KZN HOTEL
Cost line | Pre-Bokashi | Post-Bokashi | Change |
General waste contractor | R18,059/month | R10,295/month | ▼ R7,764/month |
Municipal organics levy | Included above | R3,000/month | New line item |
Bokashi Bran service | — | R3,221/month (avg) | New line item |
TOTAL MONTHLY COST | R18,059 | R16,516 | ▼ R1,543/month |
ANNUALISED SAVING | R18,516/year |
The general waste reduction effect
Food waste typically represents 40% of commercial kitchen waste by volume. When you remove food waste from your general waste stream, the volume of general waste drops significantly — which means fewer skip lifts, fewer bin collections, and lower general waste contractor costs. This is the mechanism that makes the Bokashi Bran system cost-neutral or better at most properties.
For a group of 20 properties, we estimate the combined annual general waste cost reduction at between R400,000 and R600,000 — depending on prior contract rates. The Bokashi Bran service cost is typically recovered within the general waste savings alone.
The cost of non-compliance
The National Norms and Standards for disposal of waste to landfill (GRN 636, 2013) require zero organics to landfill by 1 January 2027. Enforcement mechanisms under NEMA include compliance notices, administrative fines, and ultimately criminal liability for the holder of waste. The cost of a compliance notice, legal response, and operational disruption is substantially higher than the cost of a Bokashi Bran contract.
There is also the question of Carbon Tax Act 15 of 2019. As carbon pricing mechanisms mature in South Africa, the financial case for documented, certified emissions reduction only strengthens. Your IEMA-certified carbon certificate is a financial asset, not just an environmental one.
What you pay
Bokashi Bran pricing is transparent and volume-based. There are one-off setup fees for drums and training, with no lock-in contracts and no hidden charges. The service comprises two cost lines:
- Collection logistics: R376 per visit for small sites (up to 4 drums); R643 per visit for large sites (up to 12 drums); R60 per excess drum beyond the base 4 or 12.
- Bokashi Bran inoculant: R887 per tonne of food waste collected, billed monthly based on actual weights.
Drum washing is your site’s responsibility. There is no charge for the app-based weight capture, monthly reports or annual carbon certificate — these are included as standard.
Certified, auditable impact.
IEMA-certified. DEFRA 2024 methodology. Ready for your integrated report.
- IEMA-certified carbon footprint certificates.
- DEFRA carbon factors 2024 used (700.20961 kg CO2e per tonne).
- Annual certificate ready for integrated reporting.
- 98% GHG saving vs landfill.
- Silverstar Casino: 171 tonnes CO2e saved in year one.
- Supports NWMS 2020 and Carbon Tax Act 15 of 2019 compliance
What you need from a food waste programme
You need data that is defensible, methodology that is recognised, and a certificate that your auditor will accept. You need it to arrive without chasing. And you need the numbers to be accurate — because your credibility depends on not overstating impact. Bokashi Bran was built around exactly these requirements.
The carbon certificate
Every Bokashi Bran client receives an annual Certificate of Environmental Stewardship, issued by Bokashi Bran and certified by IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment). The certificate states:
- Total food waste diverted from landfill (kg and tonnes) for the reporting period
- Greenhouse gas emissions avoided, calculated in tonnes CO²-equivalent
- Trees-planted equivalent for stakeholder communications
- The carbon factor methodology used: DEFRA 2024 — 700.20961 kg CO²e per tonne of organic food and drink waste to landfill
- The reporting period (property-level certificates aligned to calendar or fiscal year on request)
- IEMA certification mark
The certificate is generated from actual collected weights recorded on the Bokashi Bran app at the point of collection — not estimated, not interpolated. Every kilogram that goes into the certificate has been weighed, timestamped and recorded.
Methodology
Bokashi Bran uses the DEFRA 2024 greenhouse gas conversion factors for company reporting. The applicable factor for organic food and drink waste diverted from landfill is 700.20961 kg CO²e per tonne. This is the same methodology applied across Bokashi Bran’s full client base, ensuring year-on-year comparability and consistency across multi-site groups.
When food waste breaks down anaerobically in landfill, it generates methane — a greenhouse gas approximately 28 times more potent than CO² over a 100-year period (84 times over 20 years). Diverting food waste to the Bokashi Bran fermentation process virtually eliminates this methane generation, and converts the organic material into nutrient-rich compost for agricultural use. Composting food using the DEFRA 2024 factors is 8.88386 kg CO²e per tonne. The methodology we use to determine the CO²e saving is by finding the difference between these two calculations. i.e what the CO²e would have been if the food waste was landfilled less the actual CO²e for composting.
What the numbers look like at scale
738,714 kg diverted by one hotel group in FY2026 | ~510t CO²e avoided by one group in one fiscal year | 23,211 trees equivalent for one group, one year | ~222t compost returned to agriculture |
These figures are from a single anonymised hotel group across 20 properties in one fiscal year. Group-level certificates consolidate all properties under a single document, with property-level breakdown available for internal reporting.
ESG reporting frameworks
The Bokashi Bran carbon certificate and underlying weight data are accepted for disclosure under:
- GRI Standards (Global Reporting Initiative) — waste and emissions disclosures
- CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) — scope 3 waste-related emissions
- JSE Sustainability and Climate Disclosure Guidance
- National Waste Management Strategy 2020 reporting obligations
- Carbon Tax Act 15 of 2019 compliance documentation
No additional consultant is required to translate the certificate into your integrated report. The data is presented in a format your sustainability auditor can work with directly.
What you receive and when
Monthly report | Collection details, drum counts, contamination flags, food waste kg by property. Available on the customer portal within the first week of the following month. |
Annual certificate | IEMA-certified Certificate of Environmental Stewardship. Issued annually, aligned to your reporting period on request. |
Group dashboard | Multi-site clients access a group-level portal view with brand, site and fiscal year filters. Export to PDF or CSV for board reporting. |
Safe disposal certificate | Available monthly for regulatory compliance documentation. |
No odour. No vermin. No surprises.
The Bokashi Bran® system is designed to make your waste area cleaner, not more complicated.
- No odour – bokashi ferments, doesn’t rot.
- No flies or vermin.
- Drums sealed at all times.
- Collection managed externally – not your problem.
- Drum washing responsibility clear (client washes before return).
The practical reality of food waste
When food waste sits in a general waste bin, it rots. Rotting food waste produces methane, attracts flies and vermin, and contaminates everything around it — recyclables, packaging, cardboard. It makes the waste area unpleasant for staff, creates hygiene risks, and makes effective waste separation almost impossible. This is not a sustainability problem. It is a facilities management problem.
Why bokashi is different from composting
Bokashi is not composting. Composting is aerobic — it requires oxygen, generates heat, and produces odour as organic matter breaks down. Bokashi is fermentation. The Bokashi Bran inoculant contains effective microorganisms (EM® technology) that pickle the food waste in an anaerobic environment. The result is a sealed drum of fermented food waste that:
- Does not rot
- Does not produce odour when properly sealed
- Does not attract flies or vermin
- Accepts all food waste including meat, dairy, cooked food and bones — materials that conventional composting cannot handle
- Is safe to transport and handle
The active ingredient in Bokashi Bran® has been clinically proven to eliminate the Listeria Monocytogenes pathogen. All microbes used are South African microbes. Nothing is imported from Japan.
What the system looks like in your waste area
Drums | 50-litre sealed blue HDPE drums. Lines marked inside. Drum lids must be kept closed at all times. Drums remain sealed until emptied by the Bokashi Bran collection team. |
Waste area footprint | Drums occupy the same footprint as standard waste bins. No additional infrastructure required. No compactor needed. |
Odour control | Properly sealed drums with sufficient Bokashi Bran inoculant produce no unpleasant odour. Bad smell is a diagnostic: insufficient bokashi, rotten food added, or drum not properly sealed. |
Flies and vermin | Sealed drums eliminate the conditions that attract flies and vermin. Silverstar Casino’s waste area — previously a persistent problem site — reported no flies or smells after implementation. |
Drum washing | Drum washing is your site’s responsibility, assigned to the Waste Area Manager in the SCHWAS framework. Drums are washed on-site before returning to the kitchen. This takes approximately 5 minutes per drum. |
Contamination | No plastic, tin, glass, cloth or excessive liquids in the drum. These items prevent proper fermentation and are flagged in your monthly drum health report. |
What can go wrong — and how to fix it
The monthly drum health report flags contaminated drums and drums under 20kg (indicating under-use). These are early-warning indicators that allow you to address training gaps before they become compliance problems. If drums are producing bad smells, the cause is almost always one of four things:
- Not enough bokashi inoculant applied
- Food waste that had already gone rotten before going into the drum
- Taking too long to get food waste sprinkled with bokashi after filling
- Drum not kept properly sealed between additions
All four are training issues, not system failures. Your Bokashi Bran contact can arrange a refresher training visit if drum health scores indicate a problem.
One system. Every property. One report.
Group-level compliance, reporting and certification — across any number of sites.
- Group-level reporting dashboard on portal.
- Filter by brand, site, fiscal year.
- Compare performance across properties.
- One certificate per site, consolidated view at group level.
- Southern sun / Garden Court shown as proof of concept (anonymised group data).
The challenge at group level
Managing food waste compliance across a portfolio of properties is not a single problem — it is many. Different volumes, different kitchen configurations, different staff structures, different municipalities with different levy structures, different levels of management buy-in at property level. And at the end of it all, head office needs a single, consolidated picture for sustainability reporting, board packs and procurement reviews.
Bokashi Bran is a specialist food waste service provider in South Africa with a national collection footprint, operational infrastructure, and reporting capability to service a multi-site group under a single contract structure, with consolidated ESG output.
National collection coverage
Active collection agents across:
- Gauteng (Johannesburg, Sandton, Midrand, Pretoria, East Rand, West Rand)
- Cape Town
- Durban (including Pietermaritzburg and Umhlanga)
- Port Elizabeth / Gqeberha
- East London
- Polokwane
- Rustenburg
- Mbombela
- George
Remote and self-managed properties — such as safari lodges or rural resorts — can be onboarded on an onsite composting model, where bokashi-treated food waste is composted on the property rather than collected. This model is currently operating at several properties within our existing group accounts.
The group reporting dashboard
Head office users access the Bokashi Bran customer portal with a group-level view. The dashboard allows you to:
- Filter by brand and property — select individual sites or view all
- Toggle between fiscal years for year-on-year comparison
- View total nett food waste collected (kg) by month across the group
- Drill into individual property performance in the site-level view
- Export group data to PDF or CSV for board or sustainability reporting
- Download individual property Certificates of Environmental Stewardship
The dashboard is built on actual collected weight data from the Bokashi Bran app. There is no manual data entry, no spreadsheet reconciliation, and no lag. The data you see is the data from the last collection.
How group onboarding works
Site assessment | We visit or remotely assess each property to determine volumes, kitchen configuration, drum requirements and collection frequency. |
SCHWAS setup | A SCHWAS Team Form is completed for each property, assigning named contacts to each of the six roles. This gives us a direct communication pathway at property level from day one. |
Training | On-site induction training at each property. Digital training videos available on the portal for ongoing staff onboarding as team members change. |
Staged rollout | For large groups, we recommend a phased onboarding approach — piloting at 3–5 properties, refining the model, then rolling out to the full portfolio. |
Consolidated reporting | Once all properties are live, group-level reporting is activated on the portal. Head office receives a single group certificate annually and can access property-level detail at any time. |
Our group clients
We currently manage food waste compliance for multiple national hotel groups. Our largest active group account covers 20 properties across 5 hotel brands, diverting 738,714 kg from landfill in a single fiscal year. Our broadest group account spans 46+ properties across 4 hotel brands, with national coverage from Cape Town to Polokwane.
We also manage group accounts for corporate canteen operators including Nedbank, Investec, Roche Diagnostics and Liberty Life — where the challenge is compliance and ESG reporting rather than room-night volumes, but the system and reporting model is identical.
Trusted by leading organisations.
The SCHWAS team framework
The reason most food waste programmes fail is people, not process. Staff don’t know whose responsibility it is, and so nobody owns it. The Bokashi Bran® SCHWAS framework solves this by assigning a named person and a specific responsibility to each of six roles in your team:
S — Senior leader
Supervise the team and ensure all members follow the system according to the training. Embed Bokashi compliance into HR guidelines and performance evaluation.
C — Chef
Supervise the kitchen team to separate food waste at source and treat with bokashi. Allocate duties. Adjust quantities and menu to reduce avoidable food waste.
H — HR
Include the Bokashi system in HR guidelines and evaluate compliance accordingly.
W — Waste area
As sustainability becomes a standard component of corporate procurement and hotel group reporting, operators without documented food waste diversion face increasing scrutiny from clients, auditors and industry bodies. The question is no longer whether you have a programme — it is whether you can prove it.
A — Accounts
Receive invoices, allocate purchase orders, process statements and provide remittance advice.
S — Sculler
Ensure no plastic, tin, glass or cloth enters food drums. Treat with bokashi every 7cm. Weigh drums and allocate to a cost centre if you want detailed analysis. Notify Chef when the last bag of bokashi is opened.
Each role is documented on a SCHWAS Team Form, completed at onboarding and updated whenever staff change. Your Bokashi Bran contact has a named person for every communication — accounts queries go to Accounts, training issues go to the Chef, collection logistics go to the Waste area manager. No missed messages, no confusion about who to call.
What you don’t have to manage
Collections
Scheduled, managed and executed by Bokashi Bran. Your team member signs the collection slip. That’s it.
Reporting
Monthly collection reports are generated automatically from app-captured weight data. No manual records required.
Carbon certificates
IEMA-certified annual certificate issued as a matter of course. Ready for your ESG report or sustainability audit without any additional work from your team.
Training
Drum washing
Drum washing is your site’s responsibility — assigned to the Waste Area Manager in the SCHWAS framework. This is a 5-minute task, not a programme.
Equipment maintenance
No machinery to maintain. The system uses standard 50-litre sealed drums and a natural, organic inoculant. Nothing breaks.
14 years. 97 commercial kitchens. We have implemented this system in hotels, casinos, corporate canteens, schools, hospitals, lodges and restaurants. Whatever your kitchen configuration, we have seen it before. Getting your team compliant takes days, not months.
Ready to discuss a group rollout? Contact Bronwyn Jones, CEO: bron@bokashibran.co.za · 082 456 9225. We will assess your portfolio, provide a phased proposal and have your first properties live within weeks. [Button: Get a group proposal]