Innovative Food Recycler Turns Leftovers Into Fertilizer in just 24 Hours

An easy-to-use solution that ensures less food ends up in the landfill

An easy-to-use solution that ensures less food ends up in the landfill

With an estimated 3.5kg of food waste produced by the average U.S. family each week, this type of waste accounts for around 20% of the country’s landfills. A new device called Zera, launched by Whirlpool, can turn a week’s worth of food waste into usable fertilizer in just 24 hours, decreasing the volume of waste ending up in the landfill. It recycles almost all types of kitchen waste, including meat and dairy which are excluded from ordinary compost bins, reducing its original volume by two-thirds.

The system uses a fully automated process and adjusts oxygen, moisture, heat and agitation to speed up the waste’s decomposition. Users just have to insert the - necessary for the decomposition process and made from coir and baking soda - Zera Additive Pac into the device and then fill it up with food waste. Once the container of 8.4 L is full, a ‘transforming cycle’ starts with the push of a button. The waste is chopped and heated in order for the additives to break it down. A steady stream of fresh air is also inserted via an attached high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) and carbon filter, especially designed to reduce odors. At the end of the process, the homemade fertilizer is collected in the output bin.

Zera™ Food Recycler was awarded the CES 2017 Best of Innovation Award, and for now is available for purchase only through Indiegogo’s successful campaign, which started in the beginning of January. The production is expected to begin in March in order for the product to be market-tested in April and the first deliveries to be made in summer.