Trash To Treasure: Kompostri's Mission To Cut Food Waste

By Muhammad Fawwaz Thaqif Nor Afandi

KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (Bernama) -- Tonnes of food waste end up in Malaysia’s landfills every day, much of it still edible. The problem becomes even more pronounced during festive seasons such as Ramadan, when large volumes of food are prepared but not always consumed.

According to the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation (SWCorp), food waste increased by 21 per cent to about 90,000 tonnes, or about 3,000 tonnes per day, during Ramadan 2024 while in Ramadan 2025, daily food waste disposal rose by 11.6 per cent to 4,561.61 tonnes.

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While the issue may appear overwhelming, one Malaysian entrepreneur believes meaningful change can begin at home, even from something as small as a kitchen scrap bin.

Concern About Kitchen Scraps Leads to Social Enterprise

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For Kompostri founder Ellyna Merican Zulzurin Merican, 35, what started as a simple attempt to deal with food scraps during the COVID-19 lockdown has grown into a social enterprise encouraging households to rethink how they handle food waste.

Ellyna said the idea came during the COVID-19 lockdown when many families were cooking more at home and generating more kitchen waste.

“I didn’t actually plan to start Kompostri, but during the lockdown we were cooking more at home and generated a lot of food scraps, and I felt guilty throwing them away.

“I discovered that food waste in landfills produces methane, which is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, and that was when I connected the dots,” she told Bernama in an interview.

Ellyna, who holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales, previously worked in human resources and marketing, including at her family-owned business, Oh Apong Cafe, and event management company Marcus Evans Sdn Bhd.

These experiences now shape how she develops and promotes Kompostri, with Ellyna using her marketing background to create educational videos that raise awareness about food waste and composting for social media.

Bokashi Composting

Central to Kompostri’s solution is Bokashi composting, an innovative food waste recycling method that originated in Japan, with the term “bokashi” roughly translating to “fermented organic matter”.

Unlike conventional composting systems that rely on oxygen to break down organic material, Bokashi composting uses an anaerobic fermentation process carried out in a sealed container with the help of beneficial microorganisms.

In the system, food scraps are placed into a specially designed Bokashi bin and layered with bokashi bran containing effective microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria and yeast. These microbes ferment the waste in an oxygen-free environment.

After about two weeks, the fermented material, often called pre-compost, can be buried in soil or added to a compost pile where it continues to break down and enrich the soil with nutrients.

Ellyna said one of the advantages of the Bokashi method is its ability to process a wider variety of food scraps compared with conventional composting methods.

“What is good about Bokashi composting is that almost all types of food waste can be put inside the bin, including vegetable scraps, fruit peels and leftover rice,” she said.

Odour from the composting process remains one of the biggest concerns surrounding the method despite its suitability for urban homes and high-rise living.

However, she said this is a common misconception as the smell produced is more like a pickled or fermented scent rather than a foul odour.

Overcoming Challenges And Expanding Impact

Operating as a solo founder, she said, early-stage funding and supply sourcing were among the biggest hurdles in establishing the venture. Sourcing composting bins also involved long lead times as the equipment is not produced locally.

“One of the biggest challenges was funding because I bootstrapped my way to develop the pilot materials using my own savings. The bins take a few months to arrive because they are not from Malaysia, so stock availability also became a challenge,” she said.

She said to manage these challenges and demand, Kompostri currently adopts a pre-order model that allows the business to maintain a lean inventory system.

At present, Kompostri products are sold on a smaller scale as the business continues to refine its operations and manage supply, with its flagship Kompostri Full Kit priced at RM159 as an accessible entry point for households looking to start composting at home.

Looking ahead, Ellyna believes that tackling Malaysia’s food waste problem requires not only solutions but also greater awareness among the public.

“When more households adopt Bokashi composting, we can divert a significant amount of food waste from landfills,” she said.

She hopes to expand Kompostri’s outreach by growing its community, educating more households and collaborating with schools as well as food and beverage industry players on managing food waste.

At the same time, she is working on developing environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact tracking capabilities while planning to scale up bin production alongside a digital monitoring system to further enhance Kompostri’s operations.

Currently a participant in the SEEd.Lab social entrepreneurship programme, Ellyna said the experience has helped strengthen Kompostri’s potential to grow its impact through mentorship, validation frameworks and a supportive community of purpose-driven founders, enabling her to refine the business model and test assumptions with real beneficiaries.

For Ellyna, the journey that started with a few kitchen scraps during lockdown now carries a larger vision. She hopes that small actions taken at home can eventually grow into a wider movement in how Malaysians manage food waste.

-- BERNAMA