Bioenzyme — waste to wealth
Turn your fruit or vegetable waste into a valuable resource for domestic and garden use. Described here is a simple DIY process to turn waste into wealth.
What is Bioenzyme?
Bioenzyme is a multipurpose product that is produced by fermentation of fruit or vegetable peels. Fermentation is a process by which anaerobic microbes decompose organic matter in absence of oxygen. Commonly, bio enzymes are used for cleaning purposes and as pesticide or fertilizer for plants. It is 100% organic and safe to use.
Why use Bioenzyme?
Although conventional cleaning agents leave your clothes and dishes sparkling and almost sweet-smelling, they often contain a cocktail of harmful chemicals that have negative side effects on our health. Not to mention that synthetic detergents damage our clothes too and reduce their life-span. Every time we wash using these chemicals, they pollute our water bodies. The packaging of these cleaners is also an environmental waste which usually cannot be reused effectively and ends up in a landfill.
Following are some of the potentially toxic chemicals present in many cleaning agents -
1,4-dioxane has been identified as a human carcinogen, and is a common ingredient in detergents and shampoos.
2. Sodium Laureth Sulphate (SLS) is known to irritate human skin and is often implicated in conditions such as eczema, rosacea and psoriasis. It is best avoided by those with sensitive, allergy-prone skin.
3. Bleach contained in detergents is Sodium Hypochlorite When it comes in contact with the skin, bleach can cause allergic reactions. It is an eye and lung irritant and is toxic to marine organisms.
4. A common phosphate compound in detergents is sodium tripolyphosphate. Despite their effectiveness, phosphates have been banned in several American states and European countries because of their adverse impact on water bodies.
Bioenzyme is a perfect cleaning agent and serves other uses too while avoiding toxic chemicals and producing something valuable from waste.
Uses of Bioenzyme
Cleaning Agent
Bioenzymes serve as excellent cleaning agents and can be used for the purpose of -
- Dish wash
- Clothes wash
- Surface cleaner
- Toilet cleaner
- Domestic insecticide — to keep away flies and mosquitoes
- Washing off pesticide/chemical residue from fruits and vegetables
- Natural disinfectant
Biopesticide and fertilizer
The natural properties of citrus bioenzyme make it suitable as a biopesticide and fertilizer which can be used as foliar spray.
Greywater containing bioenzyme can be safely used for irrigation too, thus .
Banana bioenzyme is also an excellent fertilizer.
This is an interesting story from the State of Punjab -
Water body Purification & Effluent Treatment
Water bodies like lakes and rivers are starved of dissolved oxygen due to cultural eutrophication. Research on Bioenzyme shows great promise in increasing the amount of dissolved oxygen and reducing the Biological Oxygen Demand and Chemical Oxygen Demand in water bodies and waste-water. These are important parameters which describe water quality.
The following research papers establish the findings stated above -
Bioenzyme Preparation
Ingredients: Jaggery, citrus peels, water
Apparatus: plastic or glass container
Process:
- Fill the container with jaggery, citrus peels and water in 1:3:10 ratio by weight and close tightly.
- Open the container once a week to let out the gas.
- The process completes when the peels settle at the bottom of the container.
- Strain out the liquid part and store it to use as the cleaning agent.
Duration:
Initially, 3 months (without yeast addition). Subsequently, 1 month
Peels of any fruit or vegetable can be used to make bioenzyme but citrus peels are most suited for cleaning purposes.
The sugars in jaggery help to produce anaerobic microbes which feast on the sugar and break down the peels to produce an enzyme.
A pinch of yeast or addition of some old bioenzyme can accelerate the process and curtail it to 1 month.
The acidity can be adjusted to a comfortable level by diluting with water, so that it is not too concentrated for your needs and you do not end up consuming all of it too quickly till the next batch is ready.
Commercial Products
There are a number of commercially available bioenzyme and non-bioenzyme cleaning products if you do not want to make your own. NativeCircle and ThinkSafe are the two brands I have used. There are many others available on Amazon or other e-commerce sites. However, I strongly suggest you make your own as it will be a productive use of your peels, which you may otherwise throw away.
Krya — https://krya.in/
Herbal Strategi — https://herbalstrategi.com/
Native Circle — https://nativecircle.in/
How to use Bioenzyme?
Dilute the raw bioenzyme appropriately according to the need. For instance, cleaning may use a higher concentration while foliar spray on vegetation and soil should have low concentration in a water solution. This is because removing stubborn dirt may need more acidic content whereas a high acidic concentration in foliar spray may burn the plants.
The residual peels can be used as mulch for plants or they can be composted.
I personally use citrus Bioenzyme, so that I am not dependent on any synthetic cleaning agents from the stores, the waste-water from washing (greywater) can be directly used for irrigation as it is chemical-free and it serves a useful purpose as biopesticide for my crops. The bioenzyme sprayed in the home keeps away the flies and mosquitoes too.
Banana peel bioenzyme is used as potassium fertilizer.
The correct dilution for different uses is something I had to figure out intuitively, since there isn’t enough scientific research done in this area. Remember, dilution is important as the resultant acid from fermentation is in the range of 2–3 pH. The dilution is required, so that the liquid is not too concentrated for your needs and you do not end up consuming all of it too quickly till the next batch is ready.
Tips and Precautions
- Do not use peels of more than one type of fruit/vegetable in a single bioenzyme. Each of these have different properties and may not be suitable to be used together.
- Consider appropriate dilution for respective uses. There are no precise dilutions to be used, so you need to figure out the correct dilutions for your different uses through trial and error.
- If used for cleaning purposes, you may like to add Reetha powder or balls to the bioenzyme solution or raw ingredients in order to generate lather. Irrespective of Reetha, the cleansing action of citrus bioenzyme is effective.
- Bioenzyme can be stored for long periods of time though it may change colour slightly.
- If you see fungus or maggots in the bottle, then remove these and close the bottle tightly to prevent air from getting in.
- Prefer to use a plastic bottle as too much gas build up in a glass bottle can result in it breaking. However, if you do use a glass bottle then ensure you open it periodically to release the gas.
Bioenzyme production is a very simple process and you might just like to get started now that you have read this post!
Proof-reading by: Chhavi Choudhary
Disclaimer: There is no conflict of interest and no intention of promoting any product/brand/organization. Information presented is based on the author’s personal experience or from verified online information.
After 20 years in the software industry, Ashish is now exploring permaculture in a village in the Himalayan State of Uttarakhand.
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