New pilot will offer convenient options for households without space or time for traditional composting at home.
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS |||
San Juan County is partnering with Mill, a leader in smart home food recycling technology, to help island residents turn everyday kitchen scraps into a compostable resource. The collaboration introduces islanders to Mill’s innovative food recycler—an easy-to-use device that dries, grinds, and deodorizes food scraps overnight, transforming it into lightweight, odor-free “food grounds.”
Mill is designed for households that want to reduce food waste but may not have the space, time, or conditions for traditional composting at home. The device operates as quietly as a dishwasher and uses less energy. What sets Mill apart from other at-home organics recycling gadgets is its built-in smart scale, which allows households—and communities like San Juan County—to track how much food they’re keeping out of the landfill.
“These devices are an investment, but I see a future where they are an appliance in kitchens just like a fridge or dishwasher,” said Katie Fleming, Solid Waste Program Coordinator for San Juan County. “They make food recycling possible for people who live in apartments, have small kitchens, or simply don’t have the time or space for traditional composting.”
Food grounds can also be put to good use at home—as a nutrient-rich addition to backyard compost or soil, or as a supplemental feed ingredient for chickens.
“San Juan County’s leadership in expanding food recycling is empowering residents to reduce waste,” said Scott Smithline, Head of Organics Policy and Research at Mill. “With over two dozen Mill food recyclers already in use, the community has processed more than 8,000 pounds of food scraps—and this program will build on that success.”
San Juan County’s Solid Waste Program is launching a composting pilot in collaboration with Lautenbach Recycling for residents who don’t have the option to use their food grounds at home. The San Juan Transfer Station (operated by Lautenbach) will accept clean, dry “food grounds” produced by approved devices like Mill or other food recyclers at the San Juan Transfer Station for a $5 drop-off fee (plus the one-time purchase of a bucket for $8.50). Grounds collected through the program will be sent to Skagit Soils in Mount Vernon for commercial composting.
This pilot aims to test logistics, measure community participation, and evaluate how new technologies can support local waste-reduction goals. The County hopes the data gathered through Mill’s tracking features will inform broader organics-management strategies across the islands.
Space is limited in the pilot with Lautenbach and pre-registration is required. San Juan Island Residents interested in participating can contact Katie Fleming at katief@sanjuancountywa.gov or 360-762-5821 for details. More information about Mill can be found here: https://www.mill.com/
About San Juan County’s Department of Environmental Stewardship
San Juan County’s Department of Environmental Stewardship is responsible for solid waste, marine resources, clean water, cultural resources, and climate and sustainability work. For more information about San Juan County’s Department of Environmental Stewardship, visit www.sanjuancountywa.gov/839/
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
Please note that these machines are not food composters nor “recyclers” – all they do is dehydrate and grind it, and the waste accumulates very quickly just like it would in a yard/food waste bin. We had one of these machines and it was a huge mistake. The products should NOT be used as compost, even though Mill and their competitors greenwash in their ads that this is what they do. It seems like a nice idea but it’s far more sensible to not partner with a corporation looking for more customers and instead improve *direct* access to curbside yard/food waste composting for all residents.
Why is our county spending time and money promoting this ( or any) private business?
At first glance, I thought this company was giving these units away through the county to collect conservation data. Did I miss something? All I found in the press release was an advertisement for two private companies…the local company selling a service to dispose of the waste created by the company selling the gadget.
I am disappointed in our new Department of Environmental Stewardship. There is real work to be done stewarding our fragile environment . Promoting expensive gadgets ($1000 – less if you do not buy it from the link our County helpfully provided) for a private company is not how I want my tax dollars spent! ….that said- if one shows up at the exchange I would be tempted to buy it for a few bucks as an experiment in utilizing kitchen bio char in my compost tumbler and garden. …will it attract otters?
Native Northwesterner….your comments are interesting about these expensive machines for kitchen food waste. Why do you say that the dried and ground results should NOT be used for compost? Particle size and odor reduction are important in either a small home compost pile or buried in garden beds. I bury uncomposted or partially rotten kitchen food waste in my garden beds but of course have issues with fox, racoons and rats digging particularly in winter months. Even then they are valuable soil amendments and certainly increase biotic activities in the deeper soil.
I have tried many home processes to reduce kitchen food waste to usable soil amendment without much luck and might try this machine for our two person household if it was markedly less expensive.
Consuming electricity to grind up and dry a few banana peels seems like a monumentally foolish use of energy. A shared compost heap makes WAY more sense at every level.
Obviously there is a limited supply of electricity available, so what is the fairest solution to apportion that supply? I suggest that OPALCO allocate a reasonable and EQUAL SHARE of the available grid electricity to each residential membership. Just like ration cards for sugar, gasoline, etc. during WWII. Anyone that wants to consume more than their share can purchase unused portions from those of us that CONSERVE.
Anyone that can afford a multi-million dollar summer house can afford to pay extra for using more than their share of electricity.
Just when I think our county government could do nothing to top their past endeavors, we get this. In all honesty, this is comedy gold. Buy a thousand dollar machine to burn food scraps, and then pay to dispose of the crusty nuggets. This would make a great episode of ‘San Juandia’
On a more serious note, this is Exhibit A of what happens when a county has too much money and too many employees sitting around. How many are now employed in this Environmental Stewardship team?
Hmmm, what a curious promotion by the County. Passive measures always outstrip solutions that require fossil fueled transportation (moving products from home, to transfer station to mainland) , expensive plastic gadgets and sucking up electricity to dehydrate and grind food waste. Why not promote self-contained rat-proof worm bins or other methods? They are easy and effective. Also, why promote spending $1,000 only to have to then buy yet another bucket and pay for the dehydrated materials to be dropped at the transfer station only to be shipped off the island to increase the already fertile Skagit Valley? Island soils need fertility. Please promote passive low cost solutions – hyper-local passive measures are one of the first rules in sustainability.
These devices sound a lot like the expensive “trash compactors” that I’ve managed to avoid buying for years, if not decades. I’ve learned that my right foot is a suitable and much cheaper alternative that does’n’t use even a kilowatt hour of electricity.
What is particularly vexing about this “partnership” to deal with kitchen scraps in maybe a couple hundred upscale homes that can save some money on mixed waste garbage or transit drop-off collection (weight and volume) or supplementally feed layers or use as soil amendment in pots or small landscape plants or trees, is that this County department has spent a lot of money hiring consultants to design and plan for large scale composting island wide. Such compost would provide the volume of material for sale that would go a long wat to enriching soils for food production around here. Nothing has been done just like with the expensive solid waste idea kicked around a few years ago of a glass crusher as on Orcas at the Exchange. I am sure that one barrier is that of siting and private sector interest given our proud NIMBY traditions. On a second read and look I doubt these light weight expensive gadgets will prove durable after a year or two.
Michael Riordan
My dad called that “the dance of the suburbanite”. One of the useful skills he passed on to us children.
.