A hi-tech bin turning food scraps into farm feed

An American company has built a new system to prevent food waste with a subscription plan

Spotted: Food waste is a growing problem around the world. When we waste food, many nutrients and resources are wasted with it. Moreover, when food ends up rotting in landfill, methane is also released, which further contributes to global warming. Now, Mill Industries Inc has created a bin that conserves the nutrients from food waste and sends them back to farms where they can feed chickens and help protect the planet. 

Every member who subscribes to the food waste system receives a Mill kitchen bin that dries, shrinks, and de-stinks your kitchen waste overnight, turning it into nutrient-rich Food Grounds. Once the bin is full, members can schedule a pickup for the Food Grounds easily using the Mill app, so they can be sent back to the company. Mill then turns the Food Grounds into a chicken feed ingredient. 

Matt Rogers, Founder & CEO of Mill, explains: “Mill makes it easy to do the right thing. Food isn’t trash. But until today, it was hard to do anything except throw uneaten food in the garbage. The Mill Membership is a simple way to keep food out of landfills, send it back to farms, and make your kitchen smell awesome. Resources are increasingly scarce — wasting food at home is a solvable problem that we can tackle together.” 

Mill is currently working through the necessary scientific and regulatory processes to turn the Food Grounds into a safe and nutritious chicken feed ingredient. 

Increasingly, innovators are seeing food waste as a valuable resource, rather than something to be continually discarded. Springwise has also spotted a startup that turns food waste into leakproof, reusable, and compostable containers, while other researchers are making feed from apple waste to improve chickens’ health.

Written By: Anam Alam