Hello friends! This article is going to cover some of the cases in which a food waste recycler might be an ideal food waste solution for you and your home.
But first things first:
What is a food waste recycler?
Food waste recyclers are indoor kitchen appliances that act as a convenient alternative to composting. Using a multi-phase cycle, food waste recyclers reduce food waste volume and odors, leaving behind a nearly bacteria-free, dry and lightweight soil amendment which can be used in the garden similarly to a fertilizer!
Did You Know? Our food waste recycler, the FoodCycler®, produces an incredible soil amendment that we call Foodilizer™!
Food waste recyclers like the FoodCycler are:
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quiet
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odourless
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compact
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energy-efficient
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environmentally-friendly
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easy to use
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year-round solutions to food waste!
To learn more about the FoodCycler, visit our website at www.foodcycler.com!
Why do I need a food waste solution for my home?
Today, almost all food waste generated by homes and businesses ends up in the landfill. Food waste that is landfilled cannot break down aerobically and instead decomposes anaerobically (without aeration). When organic waste decomposes anaerobically, it generates methane gas, a greenhouse gas 30x more harmful to the environment than CO2!
For more information on food waste and its effects on the environment, check out these blogs!
Food waste is also a consistent "ick" for many homeowners, as it is:
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heavy
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wet
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smelly
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attractive to pests (e.g. fruit flies, rats, mice, crows, raccoons, the odd garden gnome, etc.)
Why not just compost?
Composting is a fantastic, earth-friendly method of recycling your food waste. We here at FoodCycler love to hear compost success stories! However, the compost life isn't for everyone, and that's ok too. The benefit of a food waste recycler appliance is that it reduces the ick factor around food waste and makes food waste recycling a breeze - and accessible to pretty much anyone.
💡 What's the difference between a compost pile and a food waste recycler? Check out the blog below to find out!
Let's look at a few scenarios in which an electric food waste recycler may be a good fit for you and your household.
10 Reasons Why You Need A Food Waste Recycler
A food waste recycler is a great option if:
1. You have limited recycling options, especially if you live in an apartment or condo.
Recycling your food waste in an apartment or condo can be extremely challenging. Unless your apartment or condo offers organic waste collection, your options for food waste recycling may be limited. Most apartments and condos do not have access to outdoor space. Even if your apartment does have shared green space, you may be restricted in how you use that space.
A food waste recycler is a great alternative to a compost pile for apartment and condo-dwellers. These machines are compact and easy to use: all you need is an outlet and you can transform your food waste into fertilizer within hours, year-round, and from the comfort of your home.
By reducing food waste volume by up to 90% and removing odours, the soil amendment produced by the appliance can be easily stored for long periods of time and later shared with community gardens or dropped off at central composting locations.
2. You don't have the time, energy or physical ability to start and maintain a compost pile.
While composting can be a very rewarding experience to those who've taken on the challenge, it's not for everyone. Composting requires a certain amount of maintenance and regular care: to ensure that your compost pile breaks food down aerobically (with air), you'll need to "turn" your compost regularly.
"Turning" in the compost world means using moving/tossing compost contents around so that the entire pile receives enough exposure to air. This can be achieved by physically turning the pile by using a pitchfork or shovel, or by acquiring a compost tumbler or vermicompost system.
💡 Each different composting method has their own pros and cons, and we recommend doing some preliminary research before starting with any of them to make sure you give yourself the best chance at success!
Without turning, a compost pile could become anaerobic, which would then slow the breakdown process, generate methane gases, and emit odours (thus attracting pests).
Food waste recyclers require no turning on your part - with the push of a button, the unit turns, aerates and heats your food waste for you!
3. You eat food.
As the name implies, a food waste recycler recycles food waste. One powered by a strong and efficient grinding system like Vortech™ can actually break down nearly any type of food waste!
Composting systems are ideal for people who do not need to recycle meat, dairy or processed foods, as adding these items to compost piles can lead to serious complications. While it's not recommended to add meat or dairy to traditional compost piles, food waste recyclers have no such limitations.
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💡 Animal meat products specifically are very rich in nitrogen; this means that it would take a considerable amount of carbon materials (dry items such as straw, wood chips, paper waste, etc.) to counterbalance. Without careful attention to maintaining the carbon:nitrogen ratio in your pile, you may find that your compost system is suddenly very smelly and very attractive to local pests and pets! Further,because meat and dairy come from animals, these materials can carry a number of dangerous bacteria and viruses, such as E. coli and Salmonella. While the majority of the scarier pathogens can be killed by the compost reaching high temperatures, it's not a given that your pile will actually reach those temperatures. Even if you do your darndest to compost like a pro, there are some aspects of backyard composting that are simply outside of your control (weather conditions, for example). Finally, food products that are high in oils and fats (such as dairy products and some cuts of meat) will decompose much slower than other less fatty materials. The more oils and fats in your compost pile, the slower the decomposition process will be! |
4. You live or vacation in an area with a lot of wildlife.
Many of our municipal clients live in rural areas with large populations of wild animals, even bears! In these areas, it's not uncommon to see expensive bear-proof waste systems to protect garbage from invasion prior to pickup day. Food waste odors attract wildlife as they scavenge for food: not only is this a safety risk for the homeowner living in very close proximity to hungry omnivores, but eating human trash is a health risk for the animal.
A food waste recycler like FoodCycler reduces the odors from food waste as well as overall volume: this makes it easy to store its dry, odorless recycled by-product indoors until you can dispose of it safely - without attracting nearby critters!
5. You have young children/dependents.
While children can make you a very busy bee indeed, a food waste recycling system with young kids is highly beneficial. Teaching children about the food system is a golden opportunity to sew the seeds of circularity in future generations.
💡 Check the below blogs from our parent company, Food Cycle Science, about the benefits of food waste recyclers in schools and the value of teaching children about the food system!
Food waste recyclers offer the convenience of throwing food waste into the trash, without the ecological impact. These helpful kitchen appliances are easy-to-use tools in teaching kids the value of recycling food waste and transforming waste into something wonderful!
6. You have pets.
Any pet owner will tell you: fur babies have the unfortunate habit of getting into things they shouldn't - especially if there's food involved. Cats and dogs are attracted to the smell of food waste in trash cans. If the contents include bones, chocolate or any other items harmful to pets, that tasty-smelling trash could spell trouble for their health. Not to mention the mess these little dumpster divers will leave behind for you to clean up!
Food waste recyclers reduce the volume, weight and odors of food waste, making the remaining by-product much easier to store out of reach of pets.
7. You don't understand how compost piles work - and you don't care to!
Some people get the compost bug - and some don't. But you don't need to develop an interest in this particular hobby if you don't want to! Transforming your food waste into fertilizer with a machine like the FoodCycler takes the learning curve out of giving your food waste new life!
8. You want affordable, accessible, homemade soil amendment.
Bummer alert - organic fertilizer can cost upwards of 30$ CAD (22$ USD). Depending on the size of your garden (indoors or outdoors), you might be spending hundreds during the growing season just to fertilize your garden soil.
A food waste recycler actually transforms your food waste into a soil amendment which can then be used as a powerful and garden-safe fertilizer! Your soil amendment can also be stored indefinitely, so you can use it whenever you're ready! The FoodCycler by-product (which we call Foodilizer) is scientifically proven to nourish plants and garden soil!
Check out this blog for more information on the incredible Foodilizer an electric food waste recycler like the FoodCycler can create from just your daily food scraps!
9. You're tired of taking out the garbage so often - and tired of how heavy and smelly it is!
Food waste comprises approximately 30% of household trash. That means that, every week, you’re likely stuck dragging a heavy, sticky, stinky, leaky garbage bag full of warm food waste down to the end of your driveway, your garbage chute or the basement of your apartment.
With an electric food waste recycler, almost ALL of your food waste will be diverted from your weekly garbage output. This means that not only will your household waste be lighter, dryer and far less odorous - but you'll actually generate less total waste every week!
“We were pleased to observe that regular use of the FoodCycler cut our curbside garbage by more than half. Our family of 4 already reuses/ recycles as much as possible, and now with the FoodCycler diverting our organic waste, we put out approximately 1/3 of a bag of garbage each week, down from 1 bag.”
10. You're looking to make a positive impact for the environment and take on more eco-friendly habits, but you don't know where to start.
Electric food waste recyclers are an amazing way to jumpstart your zero-waste lifestyle without the learning curve: just drop your food waste in and press Start!
To Summarize
Food waste recyclers like the FoodCycler are great way to eliminate nearly all of your household food waste, lower your carbon footprint and introduce a sustainable yet highly convenient addition to your routine.
These magical machines can add to or replace your existing composting routine; they can also be the very first step in your eco-journey!
A Note on Terminology
The FoodCycler® is a countertop electric food waste recycler that breaks down food scraps through a mechanical process into a dry, lightweight by-product that can be used in gardening applications as a fertilizer. The FoodCycler® and other electric food waste recyclers are not composters, nor do they produce compost or soil as they do not require additional microbes to break down food waste with bacteria. However, the term "electric composter" has been used to describe electric food waste recyclers.
Learn more about the FoodCycler food waste recycler here!
References
Small Farm Sustainability. (2015). The Do’s and Don’ts of Composting. [online] Available at: https://www.extension.iastate.edu/smallfarms/dos-and-donts-composting [Accessed 16 Jan. 2024].
MSU Extension. (2015). Food safety and composting. [online] Available at: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/food_safety_and_composting [Accessed 16 Jan. 2024].
Government of Canada, P.S. and P.C. (2020). Information archivée dans le Web. [online] publications.gc.ca. Available at: https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2020/eccc/en14/En14-405-2020-eng.pdf.