For those without a compost pile, a worm bin, or access to a composting service, there's a new kitchen appliance designed to deal with the inevitable food scraps that often end up in the landfill. The Zera Food Recycler is said to be able to break down a week's worth of food scraps into a homemade fertilizer within 24 hours, which could help families reduce their production of an average of 400 pounds of food waste annually.

The Zera Food Recycler is designed to fit right into the kitchen as a freestanding appliance, and to be as simple to use as just scraping your plate or pan into the opening, after which the automated and app-controlled unit stirs and aerates the food scraps along with a little bit of secret sauce ("a plant-based additive"), and the finished product drops into a tray at the bottom. The details are a little sparse on the unit, but the website says the system "utilizes oxygen, moisture, heat, a plant-based additive, and an agitator," which can reduce the volume of the food scraps "by two-thirds within 24 hours."

The new device will debut this coming January at the Consumer Electronics Show, at which time the market will be tested through a crowdfunding campaign with an early bird price of US$699 (estimated MSRP of US$1199).

According to treehugger.com