With the vast amount of food waste ending up in landfills across the world, more and more people are turning to composting as a sustainable response to this issue. One quick and easy way for many people to compost is with electric composters. They take up less space than most composting methods, are faster than traditional composting methods, and don't require any composting know-how.
At this point, there's a decent amount of different electric kitchen composters available on the market. It's great that people now have options for the kind of electric countertop composters they want, but which is the best electric kitchen composter? To find out, we're going to take a look at the popular electric kitchen composters and see how they compare.
- What is an electric kitchen composter?
- The 6 best electric kitchen composter options on the market
- The bottom line: which is the best electric composter?
We'll start by describing what electric composters even are and how they might differ from one another.
What is an electric kitchen composter?
An electric composter is an appliance that breaks down organic waste into a soil additive. Because electric composters use electricity to compost your food scraps, it can break them down much faster than traditional compost piles. Generally, you can expect electric food composters to finish within a day.
The quality of the finished soil additive will also depend on the composter's composting process. Most electric composters go through a process of drying, mixing, and then cooling organic waste. However, differences in that process can affect the end product.
For example, there are a couple of key reasons that the electric composter Lomi is able to create a high-quality, nutritent-rich dirt for your plants. The first is that it has internal sensors to ensure the temperature and humidity inside the bin is ideal for microbial growth and decomposition. The second reason is the inclusion of LomiPods with the organic waste. LomiPods introduce beneficial microorganisms to the waste that improve the quality of the end product for your plants.
When taking an in-depth look at electric composters, we'll be going over the different aspects of them that would make them better or worse compared to the other electric composters. This includes their cycle length, size, energy consumption, the quality of their finished product, and more.
The 6 best electric kitchen composter options on the market
Before we can pick out the best electric kitchen composter, we need to look at each of them in detail so we can compare them. Plus, just because one electric composter could be considered the best, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be the perfect one for you. So, let's explore these electric composters:
1. Lomi
Lomi is one of the many innovative products developed by Pela, a leading brand in sustainability. Pela's team created Lomi with the company's goal in mind: to eliminate the world's waste problem. Lomi brings us all closer to this goal by eliminating barriers to composting and making it an easily accessible option.
Pela has also ensured that the creation and sale of Lomi don't negatively impact the environment. Wherever possible, Pela has cut down on GHGs. Where it isn't possible to eliminate them, Pela purchases carbon offsets to neutralize Lomi's carbon footprint. Pela has received multiple certifications recognizing their positive impact on the environment.
Lomi itself is effective, easy to use, and produces high quality nutrient-rich dirt that is ready to enrich your plants. Lomi also offers unique features that stand out from the competition. The first is that Lomi offers three different modes. When electric composting with Lomi, you have the following options:
- Eco-Express: The shortest mode offered by Lomi with a 3-5 hour cycle length. This is also the most energy-efficient mode, using only 0.6 kWh per cycle.
- Lomi Approved: This is the second shortest mode with a 5-8 hour cycle length. This is the mode you'll choose if you want to compost Lomi approved bioplastics.
- Grow: This is Lomi's longest mode with a 16-20 hour cycle length. Although it takes the longest, this is the mode that produces beautiful nutrient-rich dirt you can add to your garden space.
Another unique feature is that Lomi can compost Lomi Approved bioplastics, including its own packaging. This feature makes it stand out not only from other electric composters, but from traditional composting as well. Electric composting with Lomi is the only way to compost any bioplastics at home.
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2. FoodCycler
The Vitamix is a popular brand for blenders and food processors. The FoodCycler by Vitamix is their electric countertop composter that is a new addition to their existing product catalogue.
So how does it compare to Lomi and other composters? The way it works is similar to Lomi with some key differences. The first is that it doesn't have anything like a LomiPod, meaning it doesn't add any helpful microbes to your food waste. The Vitamix FoodCycler creates a low-quality dirt which is simply dehydrated, ground-up food waste. With no microbial add-ins or specialized modes, the end product from the FoodCycler should not be added to indoor plants, gardens, or lawns. The FoodCycler also only offers a single mode with a 7-8 hour cycle length. This limits the waste you can put into the FoodCycler, and offers less flexibility.
Overall, the FoodCycler is okay. It works well to dehydrate and break up your food waste, but that’s where the benefit’s end. The FoodCycler is, however, the cheapest option, making it good for people who want to start electric composting but can't afford any other choices. However, it is definitely a more risky purchase, considering the durability issues customers have complained about. There is also no option of a 14-day risk-free trial.
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3. Tero
Tero was created by another eco-focused brand, Tero Innovation. It works much like the previous electric composters with a few differences. The first is that, like the FoodCycler, Tero doesn't introduce any beneficial microorganisms to your food scraps. This once again results in a low-quality dirt for your gardens.
One bonus is Tero's increased capacity compared to other electric countertop composters. At 4L, it's likely that even a very large household could compost all the food scraps they create.
Tero Innovation also offers a Tero Plus version of their kitchen composter. It's $100 more expensive, and the upgrade you get with that is their app that allows you to connect with your kitchen composter remotely. However, this isn't much of an upgrade for the price when you consider that many other electric composters also have app integration, including Lomi.
Keep in mind the major purchasing risk of Tero, since they have not yet shipped their product. All reviews are based on a small sample size, meaning the quality of the product is unclear.
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4. Kalea
Kalea is slightly different from the electric kitchen composters that we've talked about so far. Instead of a countertop composter, Kalea is tall and needs to stand on the floor of your kitchen. This does mean that it holds much more food waste than other kitchen composters, but also means it takes up more room in your kitchen than a large garbage bin. While countertop composters like Lomi can easily fit on whatever counter space you have available, Kalea requires floor space many people just won't have.
Kalea does provide one unique feature, though. Because it completes the composting process on three different levels within the bin, you're actually able to continue adding kitchen waste to Kalea while it's in the process of composting. However, this is a bit of a necessary addition as Kalea's cycle can take up to 48 hours, which is much longer than any other electric composter. At the end of that 48 hours is a soil booster made from dried and ground kitchen waste with no microbial add-ins.
The purchasing risk is high, at a price of $964.72, no free trial, and no products shipped yet. Unlike Lomi, Kalea does not offer free shipping. It is also a much louder machine, claiming “the volume is comparable to a washing machine”, which doesn’t exactly sound peaceful.
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5. Reencle
Reencle is a relatively new electric composter available on the market. Its capacity for food waste per day is similar to Lomi’s, but the Reencle is larger in size, making it unsuitable for the countertop. Instead, it sits on the floor like Kalea. However, unlike Kalea, it does have a touchless opening. To open it, you just need to put your foot in front of it. Although, if placed in an area with heavy foot traffic, the smells from it opening and closing all the time might become unpleasant.
Reencle also doesn’t work in cycles like most electric composters. Instead, Reencle runs constantly, and you’re free to add food waste and scoop out dirt whenever you want. Of course, that does mean you’ll be sifting kitchen scraps out of your dirt as you’re trying to get some of the finished product out.
Another consideration is that Reencle is on the more expensive side of electric composters. Without a money-back guaranteed trial period, this is a risky purchase, especially considering their reviews. While they boast on their website that they have an average rating of 4.9 stars out of 100,000 reviews, that number is suspect. Not only do they not provide access to any of these reviews, but they also haven’t sold that many units, so where are the reviews coming from?
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Interested in learning how Lomi compares to Reencle? Check out this detailed article we’ve written on Reencle vs Lomi.
6. Zera
The Zera food recycler is similar to Kalea. Instead of being an electric countertop composter, it stands on its own, requiring some of your floor space. However, it doesn't use different levels for its composting process like Kalea and instead operates much like a really tall countertop composter. This means that while it can hold more food waste than countertop composters, you cannot add food waste to it while it is running. This may not be ideal as its cycle takes a full 24 hours to complete.
At the end of the 24-hour cycle is a dehydrated soil additive that you can’t even use on your indoor plants. This is because the end product will produce an unpleasant smell and attract insects and other pests. This additive will only actually start feeding your plants after being in the ground outside for a few weeks.
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*Note: the Zera Food Recycler is no longer being produced and sold by Whirlpool Corporation. If you currently want to buy one, you’ll need to find a used one to buy.
The bottom line: which is the best electric composter?
When looking at each of these electric composters in-depth, it's easy to see that Lomi is the best electric composter available on the market right now. It's developed by a truly sustainable company, creates high-quality and nutrient-rich dirt for your gardens and indoor plants, and offers flexibility with 3 modes.
Lomi offers unique, helpful, and sustainable features that benefit anyone looking for an electric composter of their own. Thousands of eco-conscious people have already been using their Lomi to improve their own lives and the health of our planet. See for yourself why Lomi is the number one choice for sustainably-minded people like yourself:
- Most energy efficient composter available
- Only electric composter in the market that can compost bioplastics
- Has the shortest cycle length compared to other composters
- Most flexible electric composter: offers 3 separate modes you can cycle between
- Produces the highest quality nutrient-rich dirt that can be used for plants and gardens
- Only Climate Neutral certified electric composter
- Only electric composter created by a certified B Corporation
- 30 day risk-free trial at home and a full refund if you don't love it
- Highly rated and recommended by many users
Are you still wondering if Lomi is right for you? Learn more about Lomi and who should get it! If you already know Lomi is the best electric kitchen composter for you, you can easily order yours online today. Whatever your decision, it's great that you've chosen to change how you handle your food waste to be more sustainable for us and the earth.
Written by: Sereana Simpson