The Lomi electronic composter by Pela is one of the more popular kitchen units offered today. They have great marketing that promotes the the machines benefits. It is good for the environment, it produces “strong” fertilizer, it reduces the amount of kitchen waste and it even composts some types of compostable plastic.
This post will look at some of these claims to see if they are true.
I became aware of the first electric composter a couple of years ago and now there are at least a dozen brands on the market. They are promoted as an eco-friendly way to deal with food scraps. Just put your waste in the device and it will compost the material in a few hours. The material is reduced in volume by 90% and is a perfect fertilizer for your houseplants and garden.
The first one I saw was a larger floor model that required the addition of coir, and some models suggest the addition of microbes to help with the composting process. Newer models are smaller in size and don’t require the addition of coir or microbes.
Right from the moment that I saw the first unit, I questioned the “composting” aspect. How can they compost so quickly when composting is a very slow process? My myth busting antennae went up.