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Nothing disrupts a beautiful kitchen more than a growing pile of trash in the corner. It’s quite an eyesore if you ask me. What if I told you you can preserve the beauty and peace of your home while giving back to the planet? I present to you home composters.
Composting turns what once fueled your body, into fuel for the environment. With new composters on the market, time and food waste are being cut in half — and doing the work for us. Evaluated on efficiency, resulting material, price, and size, I compared the top four home composter brands: Mill, Lomi, Vitamix, and Reencle. Which one is worth the money? Let’s find out!
Composting Process
Home composters are multi-faceted devices that allow you to create nutrient-rich soil from food waste without all the manual labor.
The Mill Kitchen Bin and Vitamix FoodCycler FC-50 simply dry and grind food waste.
The Mill Kitchen Bin accumulates food waste for weeks at a time. Once full, the bin dries the food waste, shrinks it, and grinds it into grounds. There is no further mechanics to turn it into full-blown compost. At a 6.5L capacity, the Mill acts as a trash bin — without the stench thanks to odor filtration.
Once food waste is added to the FoodCycler FC-50, the machine drys and grinds the food scraps into a recycled food compound. It features a carbon filter lid to eliminate odors.
The Lomi 2 uses heat.
The Lomi 2 heats the food waste and grinds it down. Moisture and temperature are controlled through the use of sensors that monitor the grinding process.
The Reencle Home Composter uses microorganisms to digest food scraps.
The Reencle Home Composter is the only home composter to use a process that features organic material crucial for compost. The food waste is chopped with mixing rods and then digested fully by the presence of microorganisms, such as glucose and bacillus, in Reencle’s compost starter, turning it into compost. The Reencle Composter uses three-layer technology that passes through mesh and carbon filters to mask the odor from the organic matter.
Compost Result
For compost to act as effective soil, it has to be nutrient-rich rather than just dehydrated food grounds.
Mill and Vitamix FoodCycler FC-50 are simply dehydrated food grounds.
Both Mill and Vitamix require moisture to be added in order for the dehydrated food scraps to be used as compost. Mill’s app has a feature where you can request a pickup of your ground food grounds which they will use as feed for farms, specifically for chickens. With Mill, your food grounds are making an impact, but maybe not in the compost way you imagined.
The FoodCycler FC-50 result is advertised as a plant-ready recycled food compound. The result can be used to fuel plant growth, but only if your food scraps have nutrients. At a small size, there might be limitations as to what nutrient-rich foods you can grind. Otherwise, the result is dehydrated food grounds.
Lomi creates fertilizer to help with plant growth.
Lomi devices reduce the volume of food waste by up to 50%. The initial result has more moisture than dehydrated food grounds and with the use of LomiPods, nutrients can be added. LomiPods are pods that feature microorganisms that support the breakdown of food scraps. This creates what they call Lomi Earth, a foundation for plant growth. However, it can’t act as compost alone. Rather, it acts as a means to improve soil.
Reencle makes a traditional compost packed with microbes.
Contrary to the others, the final result of the Reencle Home Composter is compost filled with microbes. It fully digests the kitchen scraps making it more than a dehydration machine. The Reencle Composter’s microbe, Bacillus, makes the final result a long-lasting, bacteria-resistant compost or nutrient-rich soil that is ready to use. Food waste volume is decreased by 90%. You can have a green thumb without even trying with Reencle.
The Time it Takes To Use
Vitamix operates in the shortest amount of time.
The Vitamix FoodCycler FC-50 runs anywhere between 4-8 hours per cycle, but typically on the higher side.
The Mill can run while you sleep.
The Mill operates for around 6-10 hours. It can run overnight or you can schedule a cycle.
Lomi features three modes that vary in run times.
Lomi Classic features three different modes: Eco Express, Grow, and Lomi Approved mode. Eco Express takes 3-8 hours to shrink the food waste. With this mode, the result is just enough for a compost additive. Grow mode takes 12-20 hours, resulting in a nutrient-rich fertilizer that can be added to soil. Lomi Approved is for scraps of bioplastics. This mode takes 8-12 hours to shrink Lomi-approved products or bioplastics into pre-compost that can be added to your green bin.
Reencle Home Composter takes the longest, but is the most effective.
Reencle can take up to 12 hours to fully turn into compost. Despite the long run time, it operates at a noise level of 28dB. It’s a nearly silent composter that won’t disrupt your home’s peace and quiet.
To reap the full benefits of the compost, it’s best to let it mature for around five days after. Typical compost can take up to a year to be fully ready, so Reencle is creating ready-to-use compost in a fraction of the time.
Design Specifications
The goal of a home composter is to minimize food waste, but your home decor shouldn’t have to come at the expense of it. Compact composters can be easy to use and discreet.
The Mill Kitchen Bin is not compact and easy to store.
The Mill Kitchen Bin is reminiscent of a regular trash bin, standing tall at 26.8 inches. However, this allows for greater capacity for food waste and stores it longer. This isn’t ideal if you’re looking for a minimalist option to match your decor.
Reencle is a medium-sized device.
The Reencle Home Composter stands 18 inches tall, which allows you to either put it on the kitchen counter or on the floor out of the way. It has enough space to put a lot of food waste without having it sit for weeks at a time as you wait to fill it up.
Lomi and Vitamix are compact and easy to store.
The smallest of the devices, Lomi 2, is around 12 inches tall, making it a good fit for the counter. The Vitamix FoodCycler FC-50 is slightly bigger, but it’s compact and easy to store. However, it’s low in quality. Limitations come with a small size. The smaller the size, the more restrictions on food you can grind.
Cost
Composting, when done manually, can be a labor-intensive hobby. Home composters do the hard work for you, but can rack up in price because of this.
Mill is the most expensive option.
You can purchase the Mill Kitchen Bin outright for $999, which comes with a 3-year warranty. This is quite a hefty price, so if you’re not ready to commit, there’s a rent option available. You can rent it annually for $29.99 a month.
Lomi 2 is a moderate price.
If you want to purchase the Lomi by itself, then it’s $599, which includes charcoal filters and a 1-year warranty. There is a membership option where you pay the initial price plus $20 a month. The membership comes with a lifetime warranty, a 45-pack of LomiPods, and refills of filters and pods delivered quarterly.
Reencle is a moderate price, but with more items included.
The Reencle is priced at $499, which comes with a one-year warranty for hardware repair, a shovel, two filters, and a compost starter pack. There is a subscription option available for $35 per month, which comes with a lifetime warranty and filter and microbe refills.
Vitamix FoodCycler FC-50 is the most affordable option.
The FoodCycler is listed for $299.95. This comes with a 3-year warranty. Though cheap, you are paying for quality. A more expensive option will provide you with the tools necessary to create nutrient-rich compost.
Winner? Reencle Home Composter
Composting is a way to elevate your home and the environment. To do this effectively, you need a composter that fits your home and your goals as a gardener. The Reencle Home Composter is the most efficient and reasonable of the composters. It operates at the lowest noise level and is just the right size for varying spaces. The best part? It makes actual compost. The end compost consists of Bacillus, a microbe that aids in the full digestion of kitchen scraps, setting Reencle apart from other composters as it’s more than dehydrated food grounds. At a price of $499, Reencle is cost-effective with its added benefits.
| Reencle Prime | Lomi 2 | Vitamix FoodCycler FC-50 | Mill Kitchen Bin | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noise level | 28dB | <60dB | N/A | 41dB |
| Odor filtration | Mesh and carbon filter | Charcoal filter | Carbon filter | Charcoal filters |
| Final result | Nutrient-rich compost | Fertilizer | Dehydrated food grounds | Dehydrated food grounds |
| Timeframe | 12 hours | 3-20 hours | 4-8 hours | 6-10 hours |
| Height | 18 inches | 12 inches | 12.6 inches | 26.8 inches |
| Price | $499 or $35/month | $599 | $299.95 | $999 or rent annually for $359.99/year |
8 Responses
Does te reunite grind avacado seeds
This review seems to be missing the big picture. I think for many people the goal is not to produce compost, I mean who needs this much, but rather to reduce landfill waste. By that metric, the Mill seems the most user friendly. I had a lomi and the endless supplies wore me out and also it broke after a year. Unimpressed.
Maybe for many people but not for all. And should there be a universal answer? No.
We use it for making our plants, flowers and garden better – and then, if there is more, it goes to the chickens. Does everyone have all that? No. So it seems interesting that there is seemingly a solution for various needs with the same goal in mind – even if that is to mitigate waste.
We had a compost pile for some time but in the end it really ended up being exclusively for the chickens as there was no way to keep them out of it. So this offers us a form of control.
I agree. I have the Lomi 1 from the crowdfunding campaign and had the blower fan break and bucket gear sear off. However for both issues, Pela sent a replacement fan and bucket (separate occasions) for free. Actually right now, my unit is having more noisy fan issues and also cracks forming around stress points in the plastic chassis, but Pela replaced it with a Lomi 2 which I just got today, for free. It’s covered as a warranty ‘upgrade’ though I think it’s been over 2 years so not actually sure it’s within warranty. Maybe they made an exception for the crowdfunding/launch version. Either way it’s been great considering size and the ability to reduce waste living in an urban apartment.
As for the supplies, I’ve washed and reused the carbon pellets a few times, and bought replacements from Amazon. The ones directly from Pela are overpriced, and I don’t use the fertilizer starters much due to my indoor gardening limits, required compost ratios, bio-active nature of the compost leading to soil gnats and fungi, etc., so for me, it’s now a way to reduce landfill space/transport costs.
I own 2 Lomi’s. For our family of 2, we’d run it 2 to 4 times a week. For big family dinners, it would take me 2 days to process the food scraps. I finally got sick of the muck at the bottom of the bucket that would harden like cement. now I purchased a Mill and so far I love it. I don’t need compost, so just having food scraps reduced exponentially is enough for me. It’ll take weeks before I need to dump the bucket. The added bonus for me is that it will accept avocado and mango pits, plus fish and poultry bones (no more tossing out the smelly remants of our weekly Costco roast chicken!) It looks great in our kitchen with it’s sleek design. Though not the most affordable option, my husband and I are very pleased. Charcoal filters are pricey at around $80 or so, but cleaner to replace than my Lomi, and only need to be replaced once a year (Lomi is 3 to 4 times a year, and is very messy.) I am a happy Mill owner so far.
Love our Lomi. I have the original and it works great. I use it to create less garbage waste not necessarily compost. But I my end product supplements the soil anyway without fuss and mess. Our Lomi still works well after over two years of almost daily use!
Would like more info on yearly filter costs? Seemed to he left out and seems important to gauge overall costs. My friend has a Mill and absolutely loves it. They say resultant product acts like compost.