The Mill Food Recycler Review 2024

Food waste is something that all of us should be more concerned with. I know I am. As someone who cooks for my family daily, I often have many food scraps and leftovers. While I love the results of composting, it can be messy and smelly, even though I have an established rotating compost bin. Composting at home requires some work, which deters most people from starting the process. I’m always searching for the latest and greatest kitchen upgrades, so I was excited to test the Mill Food Cycler, a food recycler supported by industry leaders like Alice Waters and Samin Nosrat.

Mill Food Recycler 

Countertop food recyclers are great solutions for small households but have capacity limitations since they require more frequent emptying. I have a family of four, and we create a lot of scraps. Sometimes, a dish is left in the refrigerator or a vegetable is beyond salvaging. That’s when I love having the Mill Food Recycler in my kitchen. It takes the guilt out of my poor menu planning because I know it isn’t just going to the landfill. The Mill Bin is larger than other countertop food recyclers you may have seen. It’s made of off-white powder-coated steel with a maple wood-style lid veneer that resembles a standard kitchen trash can in size. The setup is straightforward. You unwrap the unit, plug it in, and install the app. 

Mill bills its food recycler as an “odorless, effortless, and fully automated.” To recycle, you just put your leftovers and scraps into the bin. They are then dried and pulverized into nutrient-rich, shelf-stable food grounds. I have a sensitive sense of smell, so I was very skeptical when Mill claimed their food recycler was odorless. After testing the unit for six months, I can attest the odorless claim is true. When you open the bin, there’s a slightly sweet smell from the scraps and contents getting baked and dehydrated.

The Mill is also the most effortless composting and recycling solution I have tested. The app makes it easy to schedule when my Mill runs. I often schedule while we are asleep since the Mill is relatively silent with a noise rating of up to 60 decibels. The app also shows you how full your bin is since it weighs the contents in real-time, but my favorite quirky feature is that you can name your Mill Bin. We call ours Oscar the Grouch. 

As I mentioned, I cook daily from scratch for my family of four and have a vegetable garden. Since I end up with so much food waste, I prefer composting or recycling to throwing it in the trash or disposal. I like putting most of my food scraps into the Mill unit, including poultry bones and coffee grounds. It takes me over a month to fill the Mill, which still astounds me since I cook so often. Then, there are options for how you dispose of your food grounds. Mill will send you a box, which you ship to a farm that upcycles the grounds into chicken feed, or you can do as I do and use it around your garden. Mill also says you can feed it to your chickens or gift them to a local coop.

How much do I love the Mill Food Recycler? When my media trial ended, I reached out to become a subscriber because there was a noticeable difference in the volume of our food waste without it in our kitchen. I can’t imagine not recycling my food after using the Mill, and I recommend that anyone looking for a low-mess and hands-free solution. The Mill costs $30 monthly, billed yearly with a 12-month commitment. You can also purchase the unit, but I recommend trying the monthly option first.

Other Food Recyclers and Compost Bins We Love

FoodCycler by Vitamix Eco 5

Enloy Compost Bin, 1.3 Gallon Stainless Steel Indoor Compost Bucket for Kitchen Countertop

Lomi 1 Smart Waste Home Food Upcycler

Vivosun Outdoor Tumbling Composter Dual Rotating Batch Compost Bin

OXO Good Grips Easy-clean Compost Bin