{"id":14003,"date":"2025-02-03T21:20:48","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T21:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=14003"},"modified":"2025-02-03T21:20:48","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T21:20:48","slug":"reencle-prime-review-a-sustainable-solution-for-making-compost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=14003","title":{"rendered":"Reencle Prime Review: A Sustainable Solution for Making Compost"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\u201cWhich one is<\/span> which?\u201d my husband asked, peering at the side-by-side maidenhair ferns in 6.5-inch pots I\u2019d left on the dining room table. One had been planted in regular hardware store potting soil, the other in a mixture of potting soil and compost made from the previous month\u2019s kitchen scraps. \u201cThe one on the left,\u201d I said, gesturing to the shorter, yet visibly fuller, fern. It wasn\u2019t hugely<\/em> larger than the other one, but it did look healthier.<\/p>\n

The size of this victory depends on one\u2019s experience with the compost process\u2014and in-home electric composters<\/a>\u2014in general. While throwing excess food outside in a pile and letting it decompose naturally is older than \u2026 well \u2026 dirt, countertop solutions designed for kitchens have been growing in popularity the past decade or so. Which is no surprise given that up to 40 percent<\/a> of food produced in the US is wasted, most often ending up in landfills, where its decomposition results in a significant release of heat-trapping greenhouse gases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ideal composting situation is generally understood to be a municipal program<\/a>, which not only keeps waste in its community of origin, but provides local jobs for its collection and processing. However, for those (including myself) who live in areas without municipal compost plans, it’s hard not to wonder whether electric kitchen composters are worth the considerable outlay of cost and kitchen real estate, or yet another corporate greenwashing fad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Turning Up the Heat<\/h2>\n

I first set out to investigate the world of these appliances by testing the Mill Food Recycler (6\/10, WIRED Review<\/a>), Nest cofounder Matt Rogers\u2019 $999 kitchen bin that grinds and dries kitchen scraps to either be used in your yard or shipped to Washington state in a plastic-lined box. While the resulting food grounds can be spread in the garden with some work, they are simply smaller, shelf-stable versions of whatever you put in the Mill to begin with\u2014there\u2019s no anaerobic decomposition process or cultivation of beneficial bacteria. What if one wanted real, usable compost for their trouble?<\/p>\n

Back in 2022, WIRED contributor Richard Baguley reviewed several machines<\/a> that claim to do just that\u2014including the same version of this Reencle Prime, which was given the piece\u2019s highest rating: an 8\/10. I thought the machine was worth revisiting over a longer test period and, as I had attempted with the Mill, using the compost in the course of regular gardening.<\/p>\n

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The New York Times\u2019 Wirecutter did something similar<\/a> late last year, going so far as to have the compost output of each machine tested. (The Reencle material, for what it\u2019s worth, got the highest marks in the test for carbon dioxide respirometry, which measures the overall biological activity in the soil.)<\/p>\n

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