A Big Win for Food Waste Recycling in South Africa

Last November, I was named one of the Top 3 winners in the Voelgoed Inspirasievrou van die Jaar 2025 awards, held in Pretoria. The awards celebrate women who drive positive change across South Africa.

Being recognised by Voelgoed Media as an inspiring woman is an incredible honour. But this award really belongs to our community – every household, business and volunteer who decided to rethink waste, take up bokashi composting and become part of something bigger.

How it all started: from Voelgoed training to the Top 3

Voelgoed Media is the publisher behind Voelgoed magazine and the Inspirasievrou awards. I first registered for one of the publisher's online training workshops way back in December 2014, and over the years that followed I attended a number of their workshops. Those workshops helped me start Circular Homes, and that relationship is the reason I entered the Inspirasievrou awards in March 2025.

Out of hundreds of entries, I was selected for the Top 50 by a panel of judges, and then the public voted for the Top 15 finalists. I ultimately placed in the Top 3, and shared the stage at a special event in Pretoria with Berenice Kogana and Santi Britz.

This recognition also came at a very special time for our team. It proved that small, consistent actions can lead to extraordinary environmental change, and together we are growing a movement of people who see waste not as a problem, but as a solution for restoring our soil and protecting our future.

Let me introduce you to our bokashi community

When I say “we”, I mean my partner Dora Wolhuter and so many other workers and volunteers that help make this dream a reality. Dora joined Circular Homes in February 2021, and the Inspirasievrou recognition is as much hers as it is mine.

Our longest-running partnership is with the Somerset West Village Garden, where we have worked together since February 2019. Residents bring their fermented bokashi bins to the garden and receive compost in return, and Hennie Paulse and his team have now processed more than 70 tonnes of household food waste into compost for community food production. In 2022, Jenny Findlay, who founded the garden, helped us establish a working vegetable garden at the Somerset West Family Shelter too.

Circular Homes also works with hospitality partners and corporate kitchens. We take their food waste and either compost it ourselves or take it to our composting partners if they need more nitrogen in their compost heaps. It all goes back into the soil instead of landfill. Together with households, our partners, and more than 15 local businesses, farms and non-profits, we have diverted more than 200 tonnes of food waste from landfill through food waste recycling and food waste composting across the Helderberg and Cape Town regions by September 2025.

Why food waste recycling in South Africa matters now

Food waste recycling in South Africa matters because our landfills are running out of space. Recent reporting says major metros, Cape Town among them, have less than five years of landfill capacity left, and the draft National Waste Management Strategy 2026 names organic waste a priority stream. In the Western Cape, all organic waste, which includes food waste, is due to be barred from landfill from 2027, through the province's waste licence conditions.

Bokashi composting is a simple answer. It uses fermentation to break food waste down without bad smells or rot, and it is something people can do from home. In nature, food waste is supposed to go back to the soil. By doing that, we are feeding the soil and feeding people. When communities take ownership of their waste, the environment and the people benefit. That is what home food waste management looks like when it works: ordinary kitchens, doing a small thing every day, adding up to something much bigger.

Where to go from here

Thank you to every household, business and volunteer who has been part of this. If you would like to join us, here is where to start:

• Residential – start bokashi composting at home with a bokashi bin.

• Commercial – for restaurants, wine farms and corporate kitchens.

• Village Garden – make your non-profit garden a hub for your community’s organic waste.

New to bokashi? Read what bokashi is, or shop bokashi bins.