Natasha’s bokashi initiative has changed how the Helderberg handles food waste, and that work has now earned a national award!
Cape Town, South Africa (20 November 2025) – A Somerset West initiative that turns kitchen scraps into something life-giving has just earned national recognition.
Natasha de Wet has been named one of Voelgoed’s Top 3 Inspirasievrou 2025 winners. She’s the founder of Circular Homes, the small Helderberg-based environmental enterprise teaching people how to recycle food waste through bokashi fermentation.
It’s a very practical method of tackling food waste and turning it into something that feeds gardens, boosts soil health, and keeps methane-producing food scraps out of landfills.
The enterprise works with households, schools, urban farmers and community gardens, helping them divert food waste using bokashi. It’s a natural fermentation process that transforms all types of food scraps into rich compost.
Over the past few years, they’ve helped recycle more than 200 tonnes of food waste across the Helderberg and Cape Town regions.
“Being recognised among South Africa’s most inspiring women is an incredible honour,” says de Wet. “But the real award belongs to our community – every household, business, and volunteer who decided to rethink waste and become part of something bigger.”
One of Circular Homes’ longest-running partnerships is with the Somerset West Village Garden, a community-led food garden celebrating its 10th year.
Together with Hennie Paulse and his team, they’ve processed over 70 tonnes of household food waste into compost. Residents drop off their bokashi bins and receive nutrient-rich compost in return. It’s an exchange that keeps the garden thriving and adds real value to the neighbourhood.
More than 15 local businesses, farms and non-profits are involved, turning what would’ve landed in the dump into soil that supports food security projects, food forests, community gardens and pollinator-friendly spaces.
Natasha sees the recognition as fuel to keep expanding the good work around making waste useful.
“This recognition comes at a very special time for our team,” she says. “It proves that small, consistent actions can lead to extraordinary environmental change. Together, we’re growing a movement of people who see waste not as a problem, but as a solution for restoring our soil and protecting our future.”
She hopes the award will encourage even more South Africans to explore bokashi composting because it’s easy, accessible, home-friendly, and powerful in its impact.
Sources: Supplied
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