My mom recently bought this Reencle Food waste composter and asked me to set it up. I’m reading the manual and giving her key information about it. She’s wondering if it would be better to just buy a giant container and just make compost the old fashion way. We have less than an acre of land and live a deed restricted community. Interested in opinions on this product and suggestions for first time composting at home. ( it’s not too late to return this appliance)
by badgrldidi
18 Comments
Largely a waste of money. I can’t believe somebody would spend $500 for one.
Personal opinion is scam at worst. Unnecessary at best. Throw it in a pile outside. (The matter, not the machine)
I understand these things don’t compost, they dry and chop up your food waste.
Unless your community disallows composting or if there’s no place on the property you’re willing to have a bin of scraps turning to soil, outdoors is a better option.
I would use it to speed up the compost process, but I can’t justify paying $200+ for one when nature does it for free.
Are they necessary? No.
But they make sense in small spaces imo. it won’t compost for you, but it’ll shrink up the compostable trash enough that it makes it easier to manage.
I also think if your mom is on the older side, it might be more feasible for her to use this than a big tumbler.
People get mad at these because you’re making hard-to-dispose-of plastic junk to get rid of easy-to-dispose-of organic matter, but I also think it’s important to meet people where they’re at, especially if your mom plans to hang on to it for the rest of its useful life.
Aren’t these just large dehydrators?
Generally I think they are a waste. The only people who might benefit are those who can’t compost outside. If you live in an apartment but want to compost this is a good way to do that with little space. Otherwise, just make a pile and manage it for look and smell.
Absolute scam. It seems these days people think they can replace learned skill with technology and in most cases that is absolutely false. Learn how to properly compost or vermicompost and you can do it just about anywhere in anything.
Not sure about your exact model but many of these things just produce desiccated food remains, rather than actual compost. They require hours of electricity usage and the need for filters, whereas the actual process of composting is natural and costs nothing.
I love the idea of more people getting into composting but I look at these as greenwashing– the idea in theory is good but it’s just getting people to spend a lot of money to do something that you can easily do yourself for free. I have an outdoor bin and I spend maybe 5 minutes a week on mine. It really couldn’t be easier.
I have one and made a post earlier about how the plastic components inside should have been made of metal. That being said, I had put material in there that the machine manual said not to. Be careful of stone fruit pots, corn cobs, bones, and other hard materials. It will break the gear housing. Reencle was kind enough to send me new gear housing, gears, and a motor for free. I will be installing once I get all of the pieces.
Also, the material that comes out of this machine is not 100% compost but it’s close. When the machine gets full, I remove the material and leave enough in there to start a new batch. The material I take out I let sit in the open air for several weeks. Then I use that mixed with soil for plants.
I recently took the material by itself and spread it over my fruit trees roots. My apple trees are loving it as they are blooming a lot more this year than last. I hope to get a much higher yield this year.
https://preview.redd.it/0ofmryawf0tg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9829ecaf4ac354133319cf475214d9c5b6b2ae96
This is the page on the micro organisms. The thing that annoys me about this is the “curing” process where you have to mix it 1:4 with soil and have it cure in a breathable box for 3 weeks. Would be much more convenient to use it straight out the container.
People in this sub generally doesnt like food dehydrator (which what most of them are).
I have reencle and i know it itsnt a dehydrator. It works well, and does what it says it does (i.e. usable compost mix)
This isnt really for people who has yards, but if you dont want wildlife (i have few of them), bugs or live in apartments. If first these are your concern…then use it. Otherwise, return it.
First these don’t create compost. The take food scrapes and turns into a “better” compostable material. Aka you can take usual kitchen scraps, meat scraps and similar non usual compost scraps and throw it in and it breaks it down into soil size.
We like ours. Because we throw in dead flowers, plant trimmings, minimal paper (just the coffee filter), and let it do its work with all of our kitchen scraps. I have created a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff since October that I’m going to mix into my soil and actual outdoor compost as the season turns for me. Mix it and spread evenly to avoid the bad stuff.
Avoid throwing in things with high fat content, minimal bread products and hard bones. If you do know you have some oily stuff in their lay/dump out in a cardboard box first and the box will draw it out.
I have the same one . Been using it for years to eat my scraps . Works ace and it does make compost . It doesn’t dehydrate the food and grind it like the crap ones
https://preview.redd.it/zcavinqmh0tg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84da50789a510df77f849b332be96aefb2d69c0d
I love the haters 😂 it does actually work well for a family like mine . 7 of us so plenty goes in the bin . Some goes direct to my compost bins at the allotment. But good for smelly foods ie meat fish . Left over dinners ect
yep, definitely pee on it.
You can do cat poo and dog poo in theory as it’s just organic waste
If you have space outside for compost and are considering this over a compost pile because of pests eating the meat you want to compost, then my answer would be get a dalek style compost bin.
The bottom has direct access to the ground so worms and decomposers can get into it fine, but it’s otherwise a covered bin that’ll keep all the animals out.
Very low effort to use, just treat it like a trash can and put some browns (shredded paper for example) on top after adding kitchen scraps.