With KIERO, the Japanese-inspired organic waste bin,
you can transform kitchen scraps into healthy soil — odor-free, pest-free, and running cost-free.
It’s easy, clean, and perfect for any household.
Let’s make zero waste a way of life together, for our planet, for our future.
Understanding the mechanism
Before you start using a Kiero, it helps to understand how it actually works.
Four things need to come together for a Kiero to work: sunlight, soil (and the microorganisms living in it), air, and water. When these four combine, your food scraps ferment and decompose. To our eyes, it simply looks like the scraps disappear — which is actually where the name “Kiero” comes from. In Japanese, “kieru” means “to disappear.”
As decomposition happens, gas is released. This gas escapes through the triangular vents on the sides of Kiero’s so odour doesn’t build up inside.
Sunlight is what activates the microorganisms in the soil, keeping microorganism working happily.
The moisture in the food scraps themselves is enough to trigger decomposition, but adding a bit of liquid — water or even used cooking oil — speeds the process up. And the faster the scraps decompose, the faster they disappear, which means animals and insects are much less likely to be drawn to it.
Setting up your Kiero
Place the Kiero directly on bare ground — soil to soil, not on concrete or pavers. ( Unless Velanda type Kiero )
Fill it with soil to about two-thirds of its height. Use a cheap, plain topsoil with no added fertiliser. Avoid clay-heavy soil or sand, though — they don’t hold many microorganisms, so decomposition will be slow.
Keep your food scraps in a lidded caddy before adding them to the Kiero. Don’t drain off any liquid — that moisture is exactly what decomposition needs. Fresh scraps also tend to try to “grow” (sprout, mould, etc.) the moment they touch soil, so letting them sit in the caddy for a few days first actually helps them decompose more easily once they go in.
Getting started
- Dig a hole about 20cm deep.
- Add your food scraps.
- Add a little water or oil.
- Mix it in with a sharp shovel or trowel — like mud play, breaking everything up as you go.
- Cover with soil. Make sure any scraps that surfaced while you were digging go back under, fully buried.
- Leave the top layer as dry soil. This is what keeps the smell down — wet soil on top is what causes odour.
- Mark it the hole and walk away! Leave it about 5-1week in the warm season, 1-2 weeks in the cool season, ( Winter time slow down )
- Next time, dig your new hole right next to a marker showing where the last one was, working your way across the Kiero.