Creating or buying fertilizer for your organic food garden is one of the most arduous tasks which can rattle up even the most seasoned of gardeners. A new kitchen appliance claims to have solved this crisis, as it can turn food waste into black gold composite with a flip of a switch. The Zera Food Recycler is an automatic composter that can convert any kind of food scraps into fresh fertilizer in less than 24 hours!
Usually, the composting process takes weeks or even months as the microorganisms decompose the organic material into rich fertilizer. The process requires a constant supply of oxygen to the microorganisms for the decomposition to occur, along with mixing it with the dirt or compost regularly to speed it up.
But Zera requires no such labor, as this hands-free trash can-sized technology cuts down food scraps, heats them up, and mixes it all up with a special additive extracted from coconut fibers and baking soda which acts as a catalyst and speeds up the process. This catalyst is usually provided by “brown” material like dry leaves, hay, or sawdust in nature to supply adequate carbon.
The appliance has been invented at Whirlpool’s WLabs, and the creators claim that it can even churn up foods like meat and dairy, which your traditional compost operations can never break down.
A prototype Zera was flaunted at CES 2016, and the mass production is set to begin in March. A single unit costs $999, and is available for pre-order on Indiegogo, where it has already raised six times its initial goal!