Food waste is probably not the first or even the second image conjured up when we consider our impact on the environment and climate change, but maybe it should be. The volume of food thrown away is daunting – 119 billion pounds per year in the United States alone – and results in more greenhouse gas emissions and wasted food resources. But Millan adhesion-based food elimination system developed by Google Nest co-founder Matt Rogers, is looking to flip the script.
Don’t call it a compost trash can.
Mill is an electric kitchen trash can that shrinks and sanitizes the typical kitchen leftover food within hours, turning them into usable food soils. This land is sent back to Mill, turned into chicken feed and scattered around the farms. (Hey, maybe it’ll end up bringing down those egg price.) The idea is to keep food out of landfills, where it produces harmful greenhouse gases, and also to recirculate it through the system so that all of what is produced goes further.
Read more: Lomi Countertop Composter Review: An Easy and Clean Way to Compost at Home
“Food in landfills is one of the most solvable climate issues we face today,” Mill co-founder and chairman Harry Tannenbaum said in a statement announcing the launch last week. “At Mill, we’re building a pathway to connect what people can’t eat at home with farms that benefit from a more sustainable food ingredient.”
How the Mill Kitchen Bin System Works
Your $33 per month covers the cost of shipping the food grounds to Mill to be made into chicken feed.
Mill
Do you have a surplus of leftovers and uneaten food? Of course you do. Throw them in the Mill kitchen trash can, and overnight, Mill breaks down the leftover food and turns it into condensed, usable soil. You can track progress from your mobile app or visually. When the bin starts to fill up, empty the bucket into a prepaid shipping box and ship your land back to Mill.
A big advantage is that you can mill any food, including some that are not suitable for composting, such as meat, dairy products and cooked foods. The grinder is also meant to remove the smell of discarded food as it breaks down, leaving you with something that feels more like crumbly soil than funky compost.
The Mill Kitchen Bin turns food scraps into usable soil to be turned into chicken feed
Mill
In theory, if you wanted to use the grounds of your garden, you could. But Mill does not produce nutrient-rich compost; rather, it produces food that has been dried and ground. Prospective composters should re-wet the material before use, and this may not yield the same results as traditional compost. Plus, any food that’s not generally suitable for compost — dairy, oil, meat — could have adverse effects on your radishes and rhododendron.
You’ll pay $33 a month to help the planet
For $33 a month, you’ll get the Mill Kitchen Bin, free return shipping on your treated floors, and environmental bragging rights.
Mill
This part may give pause to those looking to utilize this otherwise strong and durable system. While the device itself has no upfront cost, Mill does offer a subscription fee of $33 per month when you pay for a year upfront, or $396 in total. That covers the bin, shipping boxes, and shipping costs to the factory for processing, but that’s a steep price for something with no immediate or tangible benefits. Go month-to-month and Mill will cost you $45 a month, plus $75 upfront to have the bin shipped.
For existing composters or those looking to get started, Mill probably won’t make much sense, since you already have a food waste solution that costs nothing and benefits your garden. For those who can’t compost or don’t have a use for it, Mill presents an eco-friendly option to minimize that pesky carbon footprint and reduce food waste.
The mill is currently accepting memberships. Seating is “limited,” according to the website. We plan to test the new kitchen bin and will post a full take once we do.
The environmental cost of food waste
Each year, approximately 119 billion pounds of food is wasted and sent to landfills. Mill has other plans.
Mill
According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency, food waste is the most common material landfilled and incinerated in the United States, comprising 24% of waste landfilled and 22% of municipal solid waste burned. All that food scraps in the landfill lead to ugly emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane. This uneaten food also means a waste of resources, including agriculture, water, land, pesticides, fertilizers and energy.
If you are interested in composting, we have a step by step guide to building a worm farm – it’s less gross than you might think, and has a lot of benefits.
