Last year, when we reviewed Nest co-founder Matt Rogers’ new project, the Mill smart bin, we were impressed with its food-grinding capabilities. But I didn’t like its monthly subscription, and I didn’t like that it wasn’t actually making chicken feed from my food waste as promised.
A year later, the company introduced its second generation Mill, which addressed both of these issues. Additionally, trash processing is now faster and quieter. But it’s still stupidly expensive.
The second generation Mill looks similar on the outside but has been completely redesigned on the inside. According to a press release, the mill can now grind leftovers into a substance similar to coffee grounds in two and a half hours, much faster than the 10 hours it took me when I tested the first-generation container. Ta. It’s also energy efficient, processing 40 pounds of scrap before emptying it, Mill says.
An interesting solution to America’s huge food waste problem, Mill is a respected trash compactor/composter. But the mill wants to recycle the waste rather than dumping the resulting food powder into the garden, where most of the compost is used.
The main focus at launch was to turn waste into commercial chicken feed. Because of this, Mill users had to pay a subscription fee starting at $33 per month. This includes the cost of transporting the meal to a mill in Washington State where it is processed into chicken feed. (Users didn’t have to ship the grounds, but paid monthly anyway)
When I tested this bin, the mill wasn’t actually making chicken feed yet, but now it does. The company received a feed license from the Washington State Department of Agriculture last month.
However, if you don’t live in Washington and don’t want to ship your waste across the country, you can purchase a mill and feed your own chickens and garden without paying a monthly subscription. There are still rental options starting at $29.99 per month with yearly payments ($49.99 if paid monthly), but the new Mill can be purchased outright for $999. In either case, if you want to ship your grinds to the mill, you can do so for an additional $9.99 per month.
There are some expensive trash cans out there, but this one can have its cake and eat it too
This new price is a relative bargain compared to the subscription-only price of the first-generation model, which cost nearly $400 for the first year and then $33 every month for as long as you have the bin. However, 1000 yen is still too expensive. There are some expensive trash cans out there, but this one can take your cake (and eat it too).
Mill is also exploring other regional solutions to close the food waste loop. In Phoenix, we partner with local farms to collect their land and use it in their fields as compost. And based on conversations with Rogers last year, it appears the company is actively looking for other ways to distribute food scraps more efficiently. Expensive, high-tech kitchen trash cans won’t single-handedly solve America’s food waste problem, but they’re at least a step in the right direction.
Correction, Wednesday, March 6th, 10:30 a.m. ET: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the second generation mill was smaller than the original. In fact, they’re the same size. We apologize for the error. We also added some clarification regarding Mill’s subscription plans.