There’s little doubt that food waste is clogging up our landfills and emitting dangerous amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere. So, the goal of reducing food waste is a noble one. It's part of why I was intrigued when Neakasa reached out and asked if I wanted to review their new 12L Moreborn Food Waste Composter. 

After all, I’ve been hearing quite a bit about electric composters (also called food recyclers or digestors), but I’ve been on the fence about whether or not to invest in the purchase. Since I tend to cook frequently, and generate a fairly hefty amount of food scraps, I also liked that the unit was larger than some of the composters on the market. It was definitely worth a try.

The idea behind an electric composter like the Moreborn is that it provides a faster, more convenient way to reduce waste while creating a “nutrient rich fertilizer”. The machines utilize sensors and temperature controls to dry out food waste, metal blades to break down food scraps and increase exposed surface area and microbes to break them down faster.

To test out its functionality, I used it for about a month. I threw food scraps into it daily, rinsed the filter screen when it looked dusty and cleaned the exterior when needed. I also spent some time reading up on the science behind electric composters.  Here are my thoughts.

My situation

I’ve been an avid backyard composter for years, using a bin to collect fruit and vegetable scraps, plant matter, egg shells, coffee grounds, leaves and shredded paper which – over the course of 3-5 months – break down and give me nutrient-rich “black gold” to add to my vegetable gardens, flower beds and houseplants.

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The advantages of composting are extensive. I love the fact that I’m reducing the amount of waste that ends up in the landfill and (in turn) the amount of harmful greenhouse gases (primarily methane) released into the air. The byproducts of composting are also beneficial for gardening. They enhance soil structure, assist the soil in retaining moisture and feed beneficial microbes in the soil, reducing the risks for disease and warding off harmful pests. Thanks to its beneficial properties, compost also reduces the need for chemical fertilizers.  

Traditional composting isn’t difficult. It just takes a bit of attention and patience. But there are two things I don’t love about it.  First, it’s inconvenient during the winter months. Even though my bin is located in a convenient location that I can access all year long, the composting process does slow down when it’s cold outside, so I generally have quite a bit of undecomposed food built up by the time spring rolls around. Since I’m not always great about alternating green and brown, especially in the winter, it can take longer for my four months of winter compost to break down in the spring. And, if I don't take the time to turn it and incorporate some brown materials, it can be smelly. 

If Milwaukee had a city-wide composting program I wouldn’t even consider an electric composter. But since we don’t, here I am.

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The good

It’s easy to use. Setting up the Moreborn was easy. It comes with an activated charcoal packet (for odor control) that needs to be placed into the filter box on the machine. It also comes with a packet of substrate that needs to be added to the Moreborn with water and allowed to process for 20 hours to activate the microorganisms. The Moreborn also comes with a small scooper (to scoop the finished product out of the machine) and a cleaning brush.  

After 20 hours, you can begin adding food waste to the machine. From there, it's simply a matter of adding waste, cleaning the unit and rinsing the filter routinely and checking the machine every now and again to ensure it's running as it should. That's easy, since there are indicator lights on the top of the machine that tell you what the machine is doing and if anything needs adjustment or replacement.

Just watch!

There's even a QR code you can scan to access a cheat sheet if you forget what food waste you can and can't add to the bin. 

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It processes a nice variety of things. It efficiently broke down a wide range of food scraps from spent lime halves and banana peels to coffee grounds, onion peels, vegetable trimmings and egg shells. It will also process pieces of meat, fish, shrimp shells, bread and cheeses (things you can't normally put into your compost pile since they tend to smell very bad and attract rodents).

For best results, it’s advised to cut food scraps into smaller pieces for more efficient breakdown, and while that added a moment or two to my food prep time, it wasn’t a major inconvenience. 

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It holds a lot of food waste. That means it doesn't need to be emptied on a daily basis, or even weekly. According to the instructions, the Moreborn performs at its best when adding no more than 800 grams (just over a pound and a half) of food scraps per day. That was no problem whatsover. Every day I added my coffee grounds and spent tea leaves to the bin. Most days I also added onion peels and some vegetable trimmings. On bigger cooking days, I added a larger volume of scraps, but I never hit the maximum threshold. Also, since the machine is constantly breaking the food down, it took me the better part of a month to get close to filling up the canister.

It doesn’t stink. Unlike my compost bin, which tends to smell of fermentation or decomposition after a day or two, smells while using the Moreborn are vastly minimized. Any foul odors produced during the process seem to be effectively mitigated by the carbon filter. There is also a deodorizing button that you can press before opening the lid. It takes a moment or two to “clear the air”, but if you want to be spared the smell of decomposition, it’s effective.

The one time I noticed a smell emanating from the composter was when I added a fairly large pile of spent botanicals (from steeping tea) to the canister. Truth be told, when I walked into the kitchen, it smelled a bit like potpourri. So, I can’t even complain.

It’s reasonably quiet. The unit emits just a slight whirring sound (reportedly under 45 decibels) while operating. Occasionally, the unit would let out a slight squeak or farting sound as it ground up its contents. Sometimes it was surprising. But it was nothing I’d consider to be bothersome. My dishwasher and ice maker are both far louder. 

Considerations

The Moreborn is large. I know I said I was excited about that (and I still am). But I'll admit that it was a bit like getting excited about buying a huge tub of something at Costco and then realizing it doesn’t fit in your cupboard.

The Moreborn is roughly the size of a small trash bin. It  measures in at 14.1" deep by 11.8" wide by 16.5" high. That doesn’t sound so bad, but it takes up a chunk of counter space, especially if you have a small kitchen. It’s definitely something to consider. Putting it on the floor is an option, but it’s not tall enough for that to be super convenient.

It’s limited in what it can break down. While there are a few machines on the market that claim to be able to break down items like chicken and beef bones, crab and lobster shells, pasty items, fruit pits, fibrous items and nut shells, the Moreborn is not one of them. 

While most acceptable items broke down just fine, I did find a few that were problematic. Onion peels were gobbled up in no time. But the peels and stems from fresh garlic I purchased at the farmers market were problematic. The fibers wound themselves around the metal blades in the composter and clogged up the mechanism. Unravelling the garlic skins wasn’t all that difficult, but I’d definitely consider either skipping them or cutting them up smaller the next time.

Some random biodegradable items I tried also failed to break down. One was the empty tea sachets from Rishi Tea. Unlike paper or traditional plastic sachets, they are made from plant-based PLA, an inert, non-petroleum plastic that is made to biodegrade easily in commercial composting systems. While the Moreborn isn’t a “commercial” system, I hoped it might have enough oomph to gobble them up. Alas, it did not. They didn’t gum up the system at all, but they were still visibly intact after 48 hours (the timeframe noted to complete a round of composting).

It does not have a removable bucket. Some composters come with removeable composting buckets. Instead, the Moreborn comes with a scooper that you can use to remove the processed food waste from the machine. But all that scooping can get to be a bit tedious. A removable inner bucket/insert that could be dumped directly into my compost pile or another bin would be convenient.

Is the end result compost?

While I was using the Moreborn, I also did some research. And I think it’s important to be transparent. 

Although the Moreborn is called a “food waste composter,” it doesn’t technically create compost. Scientifically, compost cannot be created in just 48 hours. It does create a smaller volume of waste, as the food scraps have been dried and broken down (by as much as 93%). But the result is dry biomass (“pre-compost”, if you will) that is devoid of the good bacteria (and bio-available nutrients) that make compost so beneficial. 

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But lower volume means less waste, right?

Well, yes and no. The food waste is reduced by weight and volume, due to the loss of water during the heating and aerating process. However, the organic matter that was present in the beginning still remains at the end of the process. So, even though its volume has decreased, it would create the same amount of methane if it was sent off to break down at a landfill. You also used electricity to reduce the waste’s volume. 

So keep in mind that, from an environmental perspective, a machine like this is only more environmentally friendly if you use the byproduct. 

The claim is that the Moreborn's byproduct can be used as a "quasi-organic fertilizer". But I'd want to see the matter tested for bio-available nutrients before I used it in this way. 

What would seem to be more beneficial is to allow it to finish breaking down into compost by exposing it to soil-born microorganisms like bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes. Only then are the bulk of compost’s nutrients bio-available to plants. To get there, you can mix the pre-compost with soil (10 parts soil to one part pre-compost) so that the microbes in the soil can assist it in being broken down further. You can also put it into a compost pile and wait for it to degrade with the other food scraps.

All of that said, I definitely think the Moreborn is useful. And I'll continue to use mine. 

Is it vital? No. Is it convenient? Yes. It also has some advantages that could pay off over the long term.

Since my yard isn’t large and my compost bin has a limited capacity, I’m looking forward to seeing if I can speed up the composting process during the summer months by processing at least a percentage of my food waste with the Moreborn. If that’s the case, I’ll be able to save a bit of money buying compost for my planters and gardens.

The Moreborn will also be useful in the winter when my compost pile isn’t working at full throttle. The pre-compost is dry, takes up less space and won’t fill up my compost bin even if it gets very cold outside. If I alternate it with some leaves or “brown” materials, it’s also likely to break down somewhat faster than full-sized food scraps when the weather warms up.  

I’ve also heard of people using an electric food composter to quickly break down items like fall leaves, which can then be used as a soil additive in place of peat moss (not eco-friendly) or coir. I've not tried it, but it sounds like it could be worthwhile. 

What does it cost?

Whether the Moreborn is worth the cost is going to be a pretty personal decision, and it really boils down to how strongly you feel about the convenience of an electric composter and whether or not you have a way to use up the byproduct it creates. 

The suggested retail price for the Moreborn is $599.99. If purchased from Amazon, it’s consistently priced at $499.99 (and occasionally lower) which is competitive with other composters, though none of them seem to have the large capacity that the Moreborn boasts, which is one of its assets. 

If you think an electric composter might be for you, they are offering 10% off the Neakasa 12L Moreborn Food Waste Composter before Sept. 30, 2024. Just use discount code NAJULYKC when you purchase the Morborn at Amazon or directly through the Neakasa website.

It’s recommended that the activated carbon used for odor filtration be replaced every 3-6-12 months, depending upon use. When I priced out loose activated carbon pellets on Amazon, I found a package for $6, which would be large enough to refill the filter container. The cost is even less if you purchase the pellets in larger quantities.

The microbial packet that comes with the Moreborn contains microorganisms that assist with the breakdown of materials. The instructions indicate that, when you remove the dried byproduct from the machine, you leave a percentage at the bottom (there is a minimum scale marker to use as a guide).  If you do this, there’s no need to replace the substrate more than once a year, making the Moreborn more affordable than other units, which require more frequent replacement of their microbial blends. At the time this article was written, the Neakasa pack was available for $39.99.  

As an added bonus, you get a free box for your cat, which can be recycled when they grow tired of it.

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Other options

This section isn't part of the review. But, if you've read this far, the information might be useful to you.

If you don’t grow plants, compost or have a way to use the byproduct from a food composter, but you’d like to reduce your food waste, a good option is compost pick-up.

While the City of Milwaukee doesn’t have a city-wide program, home pick-up is available at a minimal cost (generally less than $5 per week).  Options in the City of Milwaukee include Compost Crusader, Curby's Compost and Waste Not. Brew City Compost is an option if you live in Brookfield, Delafield, Dousman, Elm Grove, Hartland, Nashotah, Oconomowoc, Okauchee or Pewaukee.