What is Lomi's Carbon Footprint?

Lomi composter in a kitchen next to a woman cutting vegetables

By design, Lomi combats food waste and reduces greenhouse gas emissions with the touch of a button. Food waste is the single most common material landfilled and incinerated in the United States, comprising 24% and 22% of landfilled and combusted municipal solid waste. And, 50% of the volume of waste that North Americans send to landfills each year is compostable materials.

Composting is a unique solution to climate change because it not only reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills, it also creates healthy soil, sequesters carbon out of the air, and supports plant life.

To ensure that the Lomi earth created offsets the electrical demands of running your Lomi, we enlisted third party services to calculate the carbon footprint of a Lomi in your home. This included examining variables unique to each home’s energy use and the ways in which you use your Lomi earth.

With the help of our third party audits, we found that despite the electricity consumed, Lomi can produce a net-lower carbon footprint than that same organic waste going to landfill


How does the Lomi composter work?

Lomi with food scraps inside

Lomi helps to speed up the natural process of breaking down food waste, organic waste, yard scraps, Lomi Approved bioplastics, and Lomi Approved products and packaging.

To do this, Lomi uses heat, abrasion, oxygen and helpful bacteria. Each Lomi appliance holds around one cubic foot of organic matter. When you’re ready to process your food waste, close the lid and select one of the three cycles.

In each cycle, Lomi heats the bucket of organic matter while a metal arm turns the compostable materials, crushing larger scraps. Lomi circulates warm air throughout the machine and out of a carbon filter. By heating, aerating and mixing, Lomi is able to speed up the breakdown of your household waste.

In the Grow and Lomi Approved modes, you’re also able to add a LomiPod. This pod includes microorganisms that help break down food waste and Lomi Approved compostable bioplastics over a longer period of time. Fragmented waste provides more surface area for microbes to accelerate the composting process.

At the end of each Grow mode cycle, you’ll have nutrient-rich plant food that will boost plant growth and enhance your indoor and outdoor soil.  

 

Lomi by Pela

Lomi

★★★★★

Lomi allows you to turn food waste into plant-ready nutrients in under 24 hours. Boost your plants while reducing your waste.


 

Lomi’s carbon footprint before it reaches your home

Lomi in a box

We believe that companies and consumers have the opportunity to take responsibility for their carbon footprint to combat our climate crisis. At Pela, we’re always looking for new ways to expand our sustainable practices.

We only work with manufacturing partners that follow sustainable practices and we purchase verified carbon credits via Climate Neutral to offset all of our carbon emissions. As the creators of Lomi and Pela Case, we’re proud to be Climate Neutral Certified.

To ensure we were fully offsetting the carbon footprint of Lomi before it arrives at your home, we contracted GreenStep Solutions to measure Lomi’s carbon footprint. The carbon footprint to manufacture and distribute a Lomi to a customer is approximately 68 kg CO2e.

Our verified carbon credits from Climate Neutral invest in projects that prevent cookstove and landfill emissions. They also plant trees on our behalf. Your Lomi is completely carbon neutral and Climate Neutral Certified when it reaches your door. 


Calculating Lomi’s carbon footprint in your home

Lomi with food scraps inside

First, we determined how much energy Lomi consumed for each of its unique modes. Then, we considered the differences in households that affect the carbon footprint of the Lomi. The variables that we account for included:

  • A home that uses renewable energy
  • A home that uses non-renewable energy

We also took into account that the carbon footprint would differ depending on how you used your Lomi earth. The variables here included:

  • Using your Lomi earth in your plants or backyard
  • Placing the Lomi earth in a green bin
  • Sending the Lomi earth to landfill

Based on these variables, we found that Lomi can save up to approximately 100 kg CO2e to 230 CO2e per year depending on how much you use your Lomi, if you or your local grid use renewable or non-renewable energy to power your home, and what you did with your Lomi earth.

This CO2e saving is compared to a baseline scenario where your organic waste is sent to landfill. 


How much power does Lomi use? 

A person turning on Lomi

Lomi uses between 0.6 to 1.0 kWh per cycle, depending on the mode and cycle time. Cycle times range from 5 hours to 20 hours.  


Lomi Compost Modes

Average Energy Consumed 

Types of Waste

Grow

1 kWh

Food & organic waste

Eco-Express

.60 kWh

Food & organic waste

Lomi Approved

.75 kWh

Food & organic waste

Lomi-approved bioplastic

Lomi-approved products & packaging


In comparison to other appliances, each Lomi’s cycle uses roughly the same amount of power required to operate an oven for 15 minutes. It uses the same amount of energy or less energy than an average dishwasher performing one clean. 


The best case scenario carbon footprint 

A woman in the garden with harvested vegetables

Let’s say Linda purchases a Lomi to use in her home. When Lomi arrives at her door, it’s already carbon neutral. Her home runs on renewable energy in a municipality that uses hydro power. She also has a garden in her backyard. After each Lomi cycle, she places the nutrient rich earth in her garden to support her fruit and vegetable growth.

Linda is using her Lomi in a best case scenario for her overall carbon footprint. She’s powering her Lomi using renewable energy. The carbon savings is the same for anyone who’s energy grid uses renewable energy regardless of the type of renewable energy.

Once her Lomi is done with a cycle, she utilized the organic matter in her own backyard. For the maximum impact, use your Lomi earth around your home. The impact is the same for indoor and outdoor use.

When these variables are met, Lomi can save approximately 230 kg of CO2e emissions per year. This is a 127% waste reduction in CO2e emissions, compared to the baseline of landfilling food waste.

If you can’t use your end product around your home, the next best option is placing it in a green bin, yard waste pickup, or food waste pickup program. This reduces your emissions savings, as the Lomi earth has to be transported to a compost facility. 


The most common case scenario 

A girl adding Lomi soil to houseplants

Jamal purchases a Lomi, which arrives at his home carbon neutral thanks to Pela’s carbon offsetting efforts. When he plugs his Lomi in, he’s using non-renewable energy to power each cycle. When the cycle is finished, he puts the nutrient rich plant food in his house plants and in the planters on his apartment balcony.

This is our most common case scenario. The variables include a home that runs on non-renewable energy, and using the Lomi earth produced for indoor or backyard soil health.

In this scenario, Lomi can save approximately 120 kg of CO2e emissions per year. This is a 67% reduction in CO2e emissions compared to the baseline of landfilling food waste. 


The un-recommended case scenario for Lomi earth

A woman throwing a garbage bag in the bin

Jessie purchases a Lomi that arrives at their house carbon neutral like Jamal’s and Linda’s Lomi. Jessie’s home is powered by non-renewable energy. After the first cycle, Jessie walks over to their trash and considers placing the Lomi earth in the waste bin, but stops.

This situation is an unrecommended scenario: a home that is run on non-renewable energy, that places the nutrient rich Lomi earth in a trash bin that is landfill bound. If these variables are met, Lomi creates more emissions than it saves.

Rather than placing the Lomi earth in the trash bin, Jessie reaches out to a friend they’re visiting soon who owns a farm. Jessie’s friend is excited to take the nutrient rich plant food moving forward, and in exchange, Jessie gets fresh eggs! This allows Jessie to avoid creating more emissions than they’re saving when running their Lomi.

If you don’t have a backyard or house plants, or a green bin program where you live, look for unique ways you can redistribute your Lomi earth back into your community. Some examples could include donating the Lomi earth to a local garden, farm, park, school, or neighbour.  


How long would it take for Lomi to cover the carbon footprint of manufacturing a Lomi if Pela didn’t carbon offset? 

While Pela provides carbon offsetting for each Lomi so it can arrive carbon neutral at your home, it would only take a couple of months in the best case scenario and most common case scenario to offset the production emissions for your Lomi.

In a best case scenario, where your Lomi runs on renewable or green energy and the Lomi earth is used at your home, it would take 3.5 months to offset the 68 kg CO2e.

In the most common case scenario, where your Lomi runs on non-renewable energy but the Lomi earth is used at your home, it would take 8.5 months to offset the 68 kg CO2e. 


Despite electrical consumption, Lomi produces a net-lower carbon footprint than sending waste to landfill 

A person turning on lomi

With an ever warming climate, composting our food scraps and organic waste is one easy way to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Lomi makes it possible for almost every home, with almost every set of variables, to reduce their carbon emissions with the touch of a button.

Depending on how you use your Lomi earth and what type of energy powers your Lomi, you can reduce your CO2e emissions by 67% to 127% compared to the baseline scenario, where your organic waste is sent to landfills.

While carbon reduction was one of our main goals for Lomi, we’re also proud of its lack of smell, compact size, quick composting time and simplicity. Learn more about Lomi’s benefits.