Gardening is so much work, but it’s the best kind of work. I’ve also got the other kind of work—you know, the paying kind—vying for my attention, so I would never have the bandwidth to maintain a home garden if I didn’t call in some help.
Enter: home composters.
These kitchen gadgets nom your food scraps with ease, transitioning them into fertile compost without the manual labor and time commitment of shoveling, tumbling, or green-brown balancing. 🌱
I found there are lots of options out there, but they aren’t all created equally. Here I’ll compare 3 home composters, and share my top pick!
1. Reencle Composter
The Cost: $499 includes device and 2 additional carbon filters lasting 2 years each, $25 for filter replacements thereafter
Bowl Capacity: up to 2.2 lbs of food per day
The Details: My Reencle is my pride and joy. It does more than quietly break ~2 pounds of food down per day, it actually turns it into fertile compost that has nourished my garden to the point of thriving. It’s super energy-efficient.
Of note is that the ReencleMicrobe™ is tolerant to salt and acid, alleviating the need to get spun out on balancing greens and browns. It takes a little TLC to get that microorganism bed cultivated, but once you’ve done it, you can just let that baby soar with little to no maintenance.
The Reencle produces odorless, nutrient-rich soil thanks to its 3-layer filtration system. It also fends off bad bacteria, and it can break down pure bio-plastics. Amazing!
Some may see it as a downside that Reencle can’t break down chicken bones, but that’s no problem for me, as I use those to make broth anyway. Oh, and a cute lil’ bonus: Reencle plants a tree with every purchase! 💕
2. Pela Lomi Composter
The Cost: $499 + $220/year filter replacements + $139.80/year microorganism pod replacements
Bowl Capacity: up to 2.2 lbs of food per day
The Details: The Lomi composter can play ball with the Reencle. I like that it has a simple setup and multiple modes for functionality. But while its initial price is comparable to Reencle’s, the ongoing cost of filters is not insignificant.
Some other notable cons: while Lomi does allow soft bones (such as those from fish and chicken wings) and eggshells, after running them through a cycle, they don’t always fully break down. I’d rather be told to avoid composting these things than to have them not work so well.
It also let off a bit of a sour odor, which my kids couldn’t tolerate. In the end, I found that the Lomi breaks down and dehydrates food waste, but doesn’t turn them to fertilizer. When added to a garden and watered, the food rehydrates and invites pests. Eek!
3. Vitamix FC 50 FoodCycler
The Cost: $325 + $24.95 filter replacements
Bowl Capacity: 2 Liters or half-gallon
The Details: This home composter is the lowest cost of the three at play here, but it’s also the one that impressed me the least. Its bowl capacity is small considering the size of the machine, and with four people’s worth of food waste going into it, it requires a lot of maintenance.
Plus, some users find their compost to turn out too wet, which can invite odors and leachate.
One bone I’ll throw this composter, literally, is that it can break down chicken bones. This isn’t a high priority for me, so this composter is at the bottom of my list.
My Garden is Living its Best Life Thanks to My Reencle
Friends, get you the Reencle composter. It’s not the first electric composter out there, but it's the best and most energy efficient of them all.
Its nifty technology quietly works to create actual fertile compost that can be put back into your garden to make your plants happy. It’s odorless. It’s an investment that has low ongoing costs.
