Kitchen scrap composting has been part of my routine for my entire life, and its evolution has been a fun one to witness. It used to be a chore reserved for those with a backyard, a serious commitment to sustainability, and a penchant for gardening. Over time, with mindfulness over landfill waste and the effects of greenhouse cases and significant methane waste, new technologies have emerged to make composting more accessible, regardless of real estate and use-case scenarios.
Give it another decade; I think at-home food recyclers will become as common as your Kitchen-Aid mixer. A luxury, yes, but an opportunity for home chefs to work more efficiently and produce less kitchen waste.
We already reviewed the Mill and really, really liked it, but the opportunity to test FoodCycler's new Eco 3 — the most compact "Foodilizer" on the market — was very welcomed. Unlike the Mill, Eco 3 is kitchen countertop-sized. In fact, it's smaller than our air fryer, just about the same size as our coffee maker. It's functionality it a bit different than the Mill, but the quality of the byproduct is exactly the same for half the price ($999 vs. $499). Launched in July, we've been giving Eco 3 a test run during peak home gardening season.
What is the FoodCycler Eco 3?
The FoodCycler Eco 3 is an electric composter that turns food scraps into compost. It’s not smart home technology-enabled, but as an alternative to traditional composting, it's a simple, no-nonsense solution that manages your organic waste.
- Small size: It's only 11"H x 9"W x 13"D
- Energy efficient: 0.257kWh/L (that equates to <0.9kWh/cycle)
- One button to start the appliance
- Removable bucket for ease of use during food prep
- Stylish, minimalist design
- The same size as your coffee maker or toaster
- Vortech technology (yep, it handles our pits, meats, dairy, pizza crusts, and even small bone scraps with ease)
- Eliminates food waste in 4-9 hours (the length of the entire process varies by volume and moisture)
- Odorless and quiet
- Refillable carbon filters
What We Like Most
Needless to say, the whole household has been putting it to work on everyday organic matter.
1. Space-Saving Unit
It's compact and it doesn’t dominate your counter space, but it still holds a lot. “Countertop space is valuable, so compactness in a design is critical, yet our customers also want high-performance processing," shared Bradley Crepeau, CEO of Food Cycle Science. "The Eco 3 is designed with a focus on efficiency in space and performance, making it perfect for limited countertop areas."
2. The Bin Comes Out
Unlike the Mill, the kitchen compost container inside Eco 3 lifts out easily. You can easily keep it next to you when you're prepping dinner. It also has its own temporary lid to nix fruit flies and manage smells that begin to occur with the decomposition process if you're not planning to run the unit every day.
3. No complicated settings
We do love smart home technology, but it's satisfying to have a simple machine that just does the job without overcomplicating things. No software updates, no notifications, no scheduled start times. Push a button on the machine when it's ready to go, and it turns on.
4. Generous Bin Size
While it’s not designed to hold massive amounts of food scraps, its 3.5L capacity comfortably handles our daily volume. We put a lot of scraps into the compost a lot every day including larger pieces. Excluding the outlier scenarios (big BBQ party), the Eco 3 keeps up without feeling undersized. For most households, it should be more than enough space and an easy way to reduce the original volume of all that food waste.
5. Carbon Pellet Filtration
Did you know that the dehydrated food material smells curiously like bouillon? We process a lot of vegetable and fruit waste, and even so, it still smells of high sodium levels. It's not unpleasant, but it is a very strong odor when left untreated. The carbon filter keeps smells at bay, but unlike other units that require a mail-order heavy-duty charcoal filters, the pellets we received with this machine came in a bag the size of coffee beans. Ordering more is easy, but in two months, we haven't had to do so.
6. It's Quiet
Save for the random pit that makes any food dehydrator clunk around, the Eco 3 produces no more than a soft hum while in use.
7. Top Venting
The vent location for the appliance is on the top of the machine, so you can tuck it in next to your cabinetry without concern. Plus, it only stands 11" high, so there's plenty of room between the top of the unit and your upper cabinets.
8. Patented Vortech Grinding System
I know a few other journalists who have tested other countertop composter brands, and their leading complaint has been that the machine doesn't break down the organic materials enough. We find that this machine does a great job — just as well as the Mill, and again, for half the price. The byproduct Foodilizer is finely chopped, completely dry, and totally pulverized. "Its compact and sleek design doesn’t compromise quality or capability," noted Crepeau. "It can handle tough food scraps like bones and fruit pits, which many others can’t.”
A Few Things to Consider
- I'm not a big fan of the lid. I grew accustomed to the Mill that has a step-to-open feature (like a traditional garbage can). Eco 3's lid twists onto the product, and when I'm trying to remove it or replace it quickly, I can feel a little clumsy getting the thread to align. Our kids struggle with this too; the dots on the edge of lid that detail where you should align and twist to seal are too high for them to see.
- No smart features, but really, it's okay. This system is a one-touch start, which means no apps, no Wi-Fi, and no unnecessary frills. While some might miss the convenience of a prescheduled start time or the ability to run the machine after you're already in bed, it's a small price to pay.
- More frequent emptying. The Mill can run the same grounds repeatedly — we only empty it every few weeks. When I asked FoodCycler if this was a possibility, they advised that I should empty the grounds after every use. Do I? No, but at my own risk.
- No Foodilizer pickup service. While it shouldn't be too hard to find a good home for your grounds, consumers who aren't gardeners or live in apartment buildings (no yard space) may struggle to find a use for the leftover grounds. Make a plan to give it to your friends who garden (it'll save indefinitely in a sealed container); you can also throw it away knowing that the exponentially reduced volume and liquid mass will contribute considerably less to landfill waste and emissions.
Who Should Get the FoodCycler Eco 3?
Honestly, anyone. I could recommend this product to my friends who have small apartments as easily as those with full kitchens feeding families of eight people. As far as electric countertop composters go, it's a great product to have on hand, and as a lifelong — but lazy — composter, I enjoy the function and convenience. Whether you're looking for a better way to get rid of coffee grounds or are just trying to reduce the volume of your regular trash, this countertop compost bin eliminates rot and smells and leaves you with organic fluff.
