In Seattle it’s required for all apartments and homes to have a composting bin. The side effect is a healthy raccoon population. Why spend $500 on something the government should build infrastructure for! 😬 vote locally!
Source??? I can't find anything that says all WA homes are required to have a composting bin, all I can find is how businesses in Seattle that generate organic waste have to deal with it through the proper channels. You must be talking about a very specific county regulation around the Seattle area, not the whole state.
@@cami5173 totally!! sorry for the misinfo, I am not originally from there. It’s required for homes and businesses in Seattle. King County has a great program in general, but not Washington specifically.
@@milomoon3856 all g! I just grew up in central WA, and I just can’t see those cowboys composting, they struggle to even recycle cardboard over there 😓 (Edited tense, I live in FL currently :))
As somebody with an environmental science degree, there’s a few things to note about this product, and about some of the “problems” it’s trying to solve. There’s no guarantee that your personal food waste is contributing to greenhouse gasses to the level you’re afraid it is. Organic waste like food breaks down perfectly fine in a landfill, it’s just a different process to decomposition above ground. You’re correct, it does create methane; but landfill methane is a HIGHLY regulated emission, which is monitored and contained by a series of wells drilled across any active or inactive landfill. It doesn’t just float into the air unobstructed. Also, if you look up things like Bio CNG, that methane can be turned into fuel that actually runs the industrial machines that work around the landfill property. They can even run electrical generators off the stuff. The technology already exists to turn a dangerous byproduct into useful energy. Secondly, the Loamy itself is a power-sucking machine. It’s main purpose is to desiccate wet food into a dry, and therefore odor-free, state. And here’s where you get into the same problem as electric cars. Too many green-minded people don’t seem to realize where electricity comes from. People on a certain political skew say to save the environment by buying an $80k electrical car, just because there’s no smoke coming out of the tailpipe. Meanwhile they have no idea what a power plant is, much less that the battery in their car is made from rare earth elements harvested by slave children overseas. Just because you plug something into a wall doesn’t mean you’re carbon neutral. And because of the high specific heat capacity of water, Loamy is like running a space heater for hours, just to turn some carrots and leftover pizza into a manageable powder.
@@starylize I do absolutely agree with her on her main point: there is NOTHING wrong with you doing your part. I turn off lights, keep my thermostat low in winter and high in summer, I absolutely try to cut down on my own impact on the planet. Regardless of your position on global warming; there is ZERO downside to less pollution. Literally none. I just want people to know what does/doesn’t have a major impact on the world, so you can make your own decisions. Don’t get conned into making big sacrifices or buying expensive products because somebody has guilted you. Do what you can. Don’t be a wasteful dick. That in itself is a massive step.
Our of curiosity, what’s the impact of water-created energy? I live in a place where most of our electricity comes from hydro-electric dams, and while I know those can be awful for fish (we have salmon ladders but I know those aren’t perfect) I’ve always been curious if it’s a greener option. Totally get I should research this myself lol, so if you don’t want to answer no worries, I was just curious
I have a device that I use to compost food waste, had it on the balcony of my 1 room apartment and now in my basement storage unit. It is really easy, I just put my food waste in there and wait and all I need is some earth to mix it in. The product is called: big blue bucket with a lid that I picked up from the curb one day. It cost $0 and is still working great after a decade, no noise, no electricity use. 10/10 would pick up from the curb again.
I made a rule to never buy items that need specialized disposable or refill components and the amount of trends I've passed up that I 1000% do not regret is scary. So many renewable or recyclables still make you buy their own refill and become dependent. The second I saw the filter and tablets I got flashbacks to coffee makers/cleaners/dispencers/air fresheners/juicers/food processors we all should ignore or have become discontinued. Hopefully this kind of product will get alternative knock offs or something for more options.
Why would you want knockoffs on a nearly prefect product. You don’t have to pay this. You know that you can make your own compost. It’s the easiest crap ever. Though if you don’t want it to smell then this is the perfect product.
@@chocolatebunny3221 I don't thing anything is ever truly perfect the first time, I'd like to see how others change things about this for different purposes and customerbases, maybe it can ve honed or maybe knockoffs could be affordable even if they don't improve anything about it and this could be a kleenex vs. off brand trade off. I certainly can't afford this iteration but maybe some off brand I could. Overall just a good idea to not have one company in control of an invention like this.
@@Pickledmacaroni yeah knock offs are okay in some instances (I. E fashion) if they have their patent for their product then it’s okay to “copy” it just give them credit
I would love to see a net zero breakdown on "sustainable" products of how much you need to utilize it before you break even on waste-- factoring in its manufacture, transportation, and energy it uses. Reduce is definitely the least sexy and least marketable piece of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... but it's also the first for a reason. It's _by_ _far_ the most impactful on the environment.
Preach. It's very trendy to reuse the plastic items that you can turn into cute craft projects. The idea of recycling is also popular, though the execution is often sorely lacking on a personal and systematic level. But reducing waste and recognizing how ingrained this consumerist culture has become, is still widely ignored. It sometimes feels like people are seeking peace of mind more than actual solutions, which allows them to keep their high standard of living and enjoy the act of buying, and "offset" it later. I'm not pretending I'm much better by the way, I'm also a part of the problem.
I dunno, it's kinda weird to have an eco product made of plastic, using electricity all day, probably shipped from overseas and made by people in poverty, that does something you could do/make yourself from recycled stuff? I dunno, the compost barrel my landlady has isn't very big or take much maintenance. I understand you would at least need a balcony for it if you live in an apartment, so it's not feasible for all. I dunno, this appliance doesn't seem like it outweighs it's bad with the good.
I can’t remember who said it, but I’ve heard some one say that we can’t buy our way into sustainability, and that feels very relevant to this product and a lot of the “sustainability industry”. Using what you have will go a million times further than buying something new, in terms of your own impact on the environment.
It seems like manufacturing and powering a small appliance for "green purposes" probably doesn't work out for anyone other than the most dedicated of users. And maybe not even them, depending on how their locale generates electricity.
But wasn't it proven in the video that the amount of electricity used was not noticeable on her electric bill? It's not a greenwashed product. Planters pay for dirt and people who pay for trash could lower the frequency that they need to pay to get it picked up. Everyone is just better off waiting for a brand to make it with a cheaper price tag, if you primarily cook in your kitchen it will save personal waste offsetting the electric use and then some. If you eat out most of your waste cannot go in the Noom and would be useless, this is a product for people/families especially who eat primarily at home.
@@Beanskiiii Does it compost? Edit: I’m going to add the definition of compost just in case you do disagree, com·post decayed organic material used as a plant fertilizer. "cover with a layer of fine compost"
@@Kay-rl9zw no. It does not compost. Nothing is decayed by this device and infarct it makes life more difficult for things wanting to actually decay the waste by dehydrating it...
This machine seems to capitalize on people with money who “want to be green” like people with 100k electric cars and tiny homes that are designed by famous architects. They’re selling a lifestyle. Save your money and get a compost bin that you can keep in your backyard for $60.00 bucks. And if $60.00 bucks is too much just get a bucket and dig a hole in your backyard, it’s what we did growing up.
So glad you reviewed the LOMI I watch a lot of gardening and plant care videos and get it advertised to me so much. This is going to be kind of a long comment but thanks to anyone who takes the time to read the whole thing. I was initially pretty skeptical of it because many "quick" compost devices are just glorified blender/ ovens that just break up and dry organic waste. I do think that it is a good solution for somebody who lives in a place where they don't have an outdoor space to compost or vermicompost. If you did have an outdoor space I don't see any reason why you would spend money on this instead of just composting which doesn't use any electricity and doesn't cost you $500. A couple of small corrections to your comments on compost. Compost does actually generate greenhouse gases but it's a relatively small amount. The bacteria that break down organic waste produce CO2 and if you don't turn your pile frequently and it becomes anaerobic then it may produce methane. Methane isn't a hazard for the Ozone layer but it is a significantly stronger greenhouse gas than CO2. The benefits of composting really come down to removing organic waste from taking up space in landfills and the associated carbon footprint of transporting waste to a landfill. I agree with your general sentiment that individual actions aren't really enough to counteract all the other contributions from our everyday lives and major companies. The main reason I compost is because I have quite a few plants and it's worthwhile for me to compost organic material and use as a soil amendment. Anyways thanks for the review I really enjoyed it.
No shit, the reason why these "rapid composters" have always been gimmicks is because trying to turn waste into dirt or compost in 24 hours is fundamentally impossible. That's all the vast majority of these things are, and have ever been.
I feel like this product has a niche where it could be good/useful, but honestly, that niche shouldn't really exist. Collecting and processing biodegradable waste should be a government issue. That's the best way to compost (or even generate biogas) for everyone.
For me it never made sense why I was being served ads for this thing since everywhere I've lived in the past 8 years has had food waste pickup with trash service. It feels like a much bigger difference can be made if cities start programs like that to make composting accessible for all rather than hoping enough individuals buy a $500 compost grinder
Last time I replaced my garbage disposal, it came with a long screed about how environmentally friendly and green it was to use a disposal. They had a point, sewage treatment plants are better able to deal with it on a larger scale. That is assuming they deal with the waste properly. And aside from the disposal, there isn’t much cost. The logic is similar to electrification, once everything goes to or comes from one place, you have a point where you can optimize the crap out of things.
Thunderfoot’s a really unreliable source and I disagree with a lot of the points they made in their video. Very simply, the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the energy Lomi consumes is a fraction of the greenhouses gases that would be produced if the food went to a landfill. Lomi isn’t a necessity by any means, but it’s not a bad product either.
@@tjfm2456 Sure, the guy is very opinionated. Still, I think a real compost file would be a much better solution if you have a backyard. If not, dedicated organic waste bins are the way. We have them here as a part of recycling program as well as bins for glass, recyclable plastic and paper.
@@AngryTapeworm I totally agree that you shouldn’t get Lomi if you have a local composting program or a way to do so on your own. Lomi is a luxury eco-product for sure.
Absolutely useless in Finland where I live: everyone separates food waste here and we have special food waste bins. Another newish and cool thing is that we started getting bins for plastic as well. All the plastic, metals, glass, bottles and food waste is separate and is processed differently.
My partner and I were part of the initial backers on Kickstarter for Lomi, and we were very excited for it. We are relatively environmentally conscious people and try to reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions as much as possible. Lomi is great because our landlord doesn't pay for composting, so we can't compost our food nor the compostable plastics that we get at the grocery store or coffee shops. Type 7 PLA plastic can be broken down in Lomi approved mode, but it can't be broken down in a backyard compost with worms, and also it can't be recycled, and it doesn't break down in a landfill. This is a great way for us to be able to dispose of compostable plastics. I like Lomi's consistent sound, it's a little loud, but it's constant enough that I can sleep to it if I run it late at night with the bedroom door open. Also, I find the quality of the dirt is inconsistent. If you put food with a lot of water in it, it will have a slimy consistency, but I've found that if you leave your food a bit longer in the Lomi so it grows a little mold before it breaks down, the dirt quality actually increases dramatically. I've never had an issue with the smell of the food except when opening the lid to add more in there. I would never suggest that every single household should have a Lomi, but if you are an eco-conscious consumer who sorts their trash and you sometimes take compostable plastics home, it can be a great addition.
26:30 I don't think they're forcing scarcity; I think people don't realize how much work goes into the difference between building one prototype and manufacturing it on a large scale. It's really difficult. There's a reason that EVs aren't widely available even for people who want them.
@@frosty_brandon I think the forcing scarcity idea comes from the way the info is presented rather than the reality of supply. You could just list when the next Lomi is available, but instead, they need to show you how many batches are sold out, so you hurry up and buy one yourself.
It doesn't actually "compost" anything. It just dessicates and grinds it up. The "dirt" still has to be broken down by organisms and enzymes before it's usable by plants
Since you live (I’m assuming, from other videos) in the LA area, you can just add your food waste to any green bin with grass cuttings and similar. I suspect that a large scale composting operation would be more effective anyways. (And they make bigger composable bags in the style of doggy poop bags to store your compost in the kitchen.)
In my city I spend $10 a month for a compost bucket that gets picked up weekly and the organization picks it up, make compost, and use it all over the city and locals can buy it cheap. I hope this is more common so people don't have to spend $500.
When I rented houses with roomates I definitely had some unapproved compost piles, but no landlord ever found them. If you have a yard, compost is stupid easy. Just make a pile of food scraps and leaves away from the house. Dont put in meat or dairy, maybe stir it if it gets big. I never had one of my compost piles smell. Currently I use a compost tumbler, a little more difficult as you need more leaves and paper or it will smell, but it composts faster and works about perfectly for one person emptying it twice a year. Mine has two compartments and cost $80.
Lots of farmer's markets can have compost programs where you drop off your bucket when it's full and get a new one. I know for a fact Columbus Ohio had one pre covid
Agreed, but just as a small detail I will say that Pela (and the Lomi) is based in Canada, not the US. They're actually based in my hometown! 😅 Great video and love the critiques you made!! 💗
@@SwellEntertainment it's okay, the energy is basically the same as a Cali company lmfao, lots of sunshine and west coast bros! Kelowna is like California's little sibling - we're even called "Kelownafornia" and "Napa of the North" 🥴
My main concern here is, how well broken down is the stuff you put in? Things generally take a while to break down into compost (I’m saying this as an employee at a garden center and a horticulture enthusiast, but I’m by no means an expert), so the operation time being only a few hours has me a little skeptical. It certainly looks like compost, but my worry is that it’s just finely-ground plant scraps and stuff that’s not broken down enough to be used as a soil component. And if it’s not broken down enough, mold and fungus could become an issue if you try to plant stuff in it (not to mention the plants might just rot themselves). Again, I’ve never seen one of these things in person, and I’m sure that they did a good amount of QC on this. But there’s also a long history of environmentalism and horticulture “hacks” and “shortcuts” that are just scams. I also know that stuff like used coffee grounds are fine to put into soil immediately (I’ve done it with no issue), so maybe I’m miscalculating the amount of breakdown time that other stuff needs. Who knows.
Its so disheartening to me that I could recycle and compost and try my best to use or buy almost zero plastic for my entire life, but I doubt that would even offset a single airplane trip in the sky
I’m a horticulturalist but I’m too lazy to compost after 9 hours of plant work, this product was made for me. 500 bucks is pricy so I’ll have to save up for it but I’m definitely excited to get one :)
But I see the research and such being a barrier to entry. I do think things like this are good to exist because gift giving. Like ha I got you fancy compost thing
Lomi was probably taken from the word loam which is a type of soil. I think it has equal amounts of sand, silt, and clay and it's considered a very fertile soil for growing things.
I’d buy your dirt for the meme, but I feel like putting it in the mail to send will reverse the good work you did. Even the small amount of electricity you use would cancel the effect. Mulching banana peel, is it worth having a device plugged into a wall for a minimum of 12 hours a month in your case? There are many community based composting efforts that use nature to compost. No energy use required.
I am glad I find this channel and the lovely people commenting, this will help me save a lot of money and waste from trendy products I am always tempted to buy
I love tech bro approaches to things that already exist on a product scale as well as on an environment scale. Product scale, you can get a compost bin (box) for like $50.00 at a hardware store. If you have access to wood pallets you could build a compost bin for "cheap" Environment scale, plant matter will break down just being out and about in the world so like nature does it for you. $500.00 for a tech approach to something that already exists for FAR less money is so us. Not us as in the U.S. but us as in current humans. We need to reinvent the wheel and make it modern when really this is just a WAY overpriced compost bin. Now excuse me I have to turn my compost bin over.
We’ve had a wormery that takes the majority of our food waste for about 20 years. Granted, it needs to be in a garden as it’s quite big, but you can get tiny ones designed to be kept indoors now! Much much cheaper, no power required 😅
Composting is a good thing, but at least in our household the big problem is the amount of packaging material. Very little plastic you get is really recyclable. Ideally we’d avoid as much of this packaging as we can, but for working people that’s a real challenge. Products like this are not evil, but I wish companies would stop claiming such big environmental benefits for products.
at the beginning of this video i was thinking of what people who don't need dirt could do with this, and packaging it and selling it was one of my first thoughts
I wonder if you could hide that under your sink if you had the space. Might quiet the noise as well as save counter space. If you have a garbage disposer in your sink, you'd likely have an outlet to plug it into, albeit likely hooked to a switch.
Anyone with even a tiny amount of outdoor space/balcony space - get a Subpod mini on the moveable trolley. Costs the same but you get a garden bed out of it too and no energy cost. Studio apartments with just the one room - probably don't need more than a small bokashi bin.
There’s tons of comments that are negative about this. But I’m still tempted to get one. As my current place has no recycling and I doubt we have a community garden in the town.
@@electric7487 garbage disposals are not suitable for many types of waste as they can clog up depending on the size of the pipes they are linked to. My landlord said the garbage disposal was to be used as little as possible. Definitely no egg shells or orange peels. No compost service either. :(
I have a pela phone case, despite being kinda thin and flimsy feeling (I was using otterboxes before) it protects my phone really well, is pretty durable (parts aren’t coming loose), and I have a nice sedate color I like. The Lomi concerns me because while I can’t actually speak to the affect the dehydration with have on future mycorrhizal relationships, I’d personally prefer to let the decomposers who make compost, compost, and they need a moist environment to do that.
Well said. Very well said. Yeah, I highly encourage everyone who lives in apartments to at least start a building compost and, if you have the space, get together and start a garden. Any lawn will do
I saw an ad for this and I just knew you'd want to review it! That price is crazy, it needs to be more accessable, I hate forced scarcity too. It's a cool little gadget though. Do Americans not have food/organic waste bins along with cardboard, plastic, glass and general waste bins? I have no idea how America recycles or if it's a big thing there since I'm Scottish. If people have gardens they can just make a traditional compost pile. P.s- omg, swell soil is a great name 😆. You can use it for a base to different soils. For example adding sand, pumice and grit for cacti and succulent soil etc.
my city picks up food waste every week and they make compost for city gardens ect. cities near me (toronto ontario) it is required to put food waste in a green bin to be picked up for compost
My personal opinion on the whole individual environmental vs corporate mentality is that corporations need laws that better monitor their effects on the environment and that thats where real tangible change will happen but I as a single person cant make that happen and if I do my little things that help it might compound with other peoples efforts and lower our effect a little, and a little is better then none. I do think that corporations do have a tendency to place blame on consumers and guilt us into thinking its actually our fault the world is the way it is which is not true at all.
When I lived in a small apartment I had a plastic bin for worms and it worked really amazing and didn't smell very much plus with it being right in my kitchen it was super easy to get the worms food.
making compost spending electricity is making a hole in your boat to fix a hole in your boat . You feel like you are saving yourself, but in reality you are destroying another part of your world .
If the price ever comes down I might get one for my parents’ chicken’ eggs’ shells and make my own cagefree/free range calcium supplements. I can probably just use a food processor, but that wouldn’t feel nearly as official.
I know you may not have space for it but maybe since you don’t want to plug it in to your house electricity you could buy a Solar portable battery and just use the California sun for benefit and you will just have to charge the battery every once in a while if no light. But if doubles as emergency power also so you could do that.
I wonder what about the process turns the scraps to dirt? Are the scraps just being heated and mixed around until they break down? My partner's mom just keeps a (empty) plastic kitty litter container under the kitchen sink and empties it every week or two. Works perfectly well, doesn't smell, and doesn't cost $500 or use any power haha
Honestly this would be extremely helpful for apartment complexes for those who don't have access to community composting and likes to garden. The price point is a high bar to set for utilization and it kinda bums me out that this wouldn't be affordable for those who would use it frequently.
Will you do True Earth Laundry detergent? Their ads are everywhere and they make tons of environmental claims but the price point is so high, I'm not sure it's worth it in the inflation hellscape we're currently living in
Slight correction but I’m not sure if this is universal, but i did a work study at a local landfill and the huge pyramid mountains were actually like lasagna, dirt/trash/dirt/trash not just trash pile. The dirt both contains the garbage from literally flying away in the wind (plus rain water to act as cementing) and occasional layers of biodegradable tarp covering.
$59 a month, plus it needs energy and consumables to run…sheesh. We don’t have gov. provided composting where I live, but I can get a company to pick up food scraps of $18 a month and they’ll give you back compost. If I had an outdoor area I’d do it myself.
My apartment building (an MANY in my province) don’t allow composting because it brings bugs and flys also it smells pretty bad if you don’t clean it regularly I wish I could compost but we are literally forbidden from it and could get evicted
Just to comment on the 'billionaires going to space are bad for the environment' side comment at 4:00 ish - I firmly disagree that the space sector (whether it be private companies or state agencies like NASA) is an obstacle for addressing climate change - if anything, it is a long-term solution. The space sector is responsible for a tiny amount of global emissions, and offers lots of promise for ways humanity can technologically progress in future without putting ever greater strain on the planet. For example, Earth Observation satellites offer a much less carbon intensive way to image the Earth compared to aerial imagery, their biggest competitor, and one of their strongest use cases at the moment is for environmental monitoring. Satellite Telecommunications is also probably less environmentally damaging that having all the ground infrastructure you'd otherwise need on Earth to do the same things. In the future, if we can mine the asteroid belt and manufacture things in space or in other celestial bodies without a biosphere, that would also be better than doing equivalent things on Earth. In the very long term, space colonisation might enable us to return large portions of the Earth to nature. More investment in space is a fantastic thing - whatever your opinion of billionaires is.
It’s a good idea and all, but I’d rather just stick with my usual routine of taking all of my food scraps, going out in the middle of the night and burying them in the forest.
I've wanted one of these (or similar from another company, vitamix has one as well) but the price is a big no from me. I've been trying to compost but we don't have a lot of space, so something like this would be faster and take up less space. If they were more affordable I would have bought something like this a while ago. I dunno why sustainability products like this are apparently only for the wealthy.
This is just the city version of a burn pit for garbage. The thing about composting (as an engineer that was actually educated on solid waste management) is that composting has a lot going on. Composting (at an actual facility, not your backyard compost pit (no shade, that's what my fam uses)) considers carbon/nitrogen ratio of source materials and final product, pH, operating temperature (both for compost breakdown AND for sterilization of pathogens), oxygen (you want oxygen for the microbes to break the compost down, otherwise you get anaerobic microbes, methane, and stinky compost), and a bunch of other factors. The "dirt" created by lomi is just dehydrated shredded food waste, with no way to monitor or control the quality or properties of it. I wonder how it actually functions as compost, if rehydrating it with soil causes it to smell like decaying food. Is it even producing stable "compost"? Look, the moisture content of food waste is about 70% (varies, but fruit/veg can be much higher), so just drying out the food and compacting it via shredding WOULD cause a pretty noticeable volume reduction. That's one of the big reasons to compost, because there's no reason to be throwing away all that water into landfills. Again, the lomi is essentially a mini garbage burn pit--it uses energy to reduce the volume of garbage but doesn't really turn the waste into a useful product. Also don't burn trash in your backyard, it releases a ton of fumes, particulate materials, etc that are very hazardous to human and environmental health. Incinerators and waste-to-energy facilities (i.e., burn trash to make electricity) are strictly regulated and monitored. I understand the complex emotions behind all of this, the guilt and the need to do something, anything, even if it won't fix the larger problem, but in this case, save your money. If you have a larger apartment or a basement, look into vermiculture (worm composting), you can easily create a worm composer out of a plastic cabinet that produces good compost, doesn't smell much, and is relatively low maintenance. Also, many cities that have trash/recycling collection pickup often have yard waste collections, where you can drop off yard waste (grass, clippings, fallen branches, etc) and sometimes they accept food waste as well, so there may be more options in your local area
You had a very long talk about this meaning that you do your little part. But does it mean that? What went into creating this machine? What metals were used, what transport, what plastics, what paper, what energy? Every time you buy a new gadget you have to consider: is there actually any chance that this will “pay” for itself environmentally. Will it be a net gain, compared to having the waste compost itself in the land fill. Without doing the math, I highly doubt that this thing will come out on top when all is said and done.
I mean presumably if the product does get used to grow plants it will be slightly better. Because some of it is turning back into plants rather than being compost just sitting in a landfill eventually.
In Seattle it’s required for all apartments and homes to have a composting bin. The side effect is a healthy raccoon population. Why spend $500 on something the government should build infrastructure for! 😬 vote locally!
you can also organize with your neighbors and compost together! you dont just have to rely on your local government
Source??? I can't find anything that says all WA homes are required to have a composting bin, all I can find is how businesses in Seattle that generate organic waste have to deal with it through the proper channels.
You must be talking about a very specific county regulation around the Seattle area, not the whole state.
@@cami5173 totally!! sorry for the misinfo, I am not originally from there. It’s required for homes and businesses in Seattle. King County has a great program in general, but not Washington specifically.
@@milomoon3856 all g! I just grew up in central WA, and I just can’t see those cowboys composting, they struggle to even recycle cardboard over there 😓
(Edited tense, I live in FL currently :))
Not true
As somebody with an environmental science degree, there’s a few things to note about this product, and about some of the “problems” it’s trying to solve. There’s no guarantee that your personal food waste is contributing to greenhouse gasses to the level you’re afraid it is. Organic waste like food breaks down perfectly fine in a landfill, it’s just a different process to decomposition above ground. You’re correct, it does create methane; but landfill methane is a HIGHLY regulated emission, which is monitored and contained by a series of wells drilled across any active or inactive landfill. It doesn’t just float into the air unobstructed. Also, if you look up things like Bio CNG, that methane can be turned into fuel that actually runs the industrial machines that work around the landfill property. They can even run electrical generators off the stuff. The technology already exists to turn a dangerous byproduct into useful energy.
Secondly, the Loamy itself is a power-sucking machine. It’s main purpose is to desiccate wet food into a dry, and therefore odor-free, state. And here’s where you get into the same problem as electric cars. Too many green-minded people don’t seem to realize where electricity comes from. People on a certain political skew say to save the environment by buying an $80k electrical car, just because there’s no smoke coming out of the tailpipe. Meanwhile they have no idea what a power plant is, much less that the battery in their car is made from rare earth elements harvested by slave children overseas. Just because you plug something into a wall doesn’t mean you’re carbon neutral. And because of the high specific heat capacity of water, Loamy is like running a space heater for hours, just to turn some carrots and leftover pizza into a manageable powder.
this should be the top comment! it’s a refreshing perspective, especially since the product is so expensive
thank you👏🏾👏🏾
@@starylize I do absolutely agree with her on her main point: there is NOTHING wrong with you doing your part. I turn off lights, keep my thermostat low in winter and high in summer, I absolutely try to cut down on my own impact on the planet. Regardless of your position on global warming; there is ZERO downside to less pollution. Literally none. I just want people to know what does/doesn’t have a major impact on the world, so you can make your own decisions. Don’t get conned into making big sacrifices or buying expensive products because somebody has guilted you. Do what you can. Don’t be a wasteful dick. That in itself is a massive step.
:,-)
Our of curiosity, what’s the impact of water-created energy? I live in a place where most of our electricity comes from hydro-electric dams, and while I know those can be awful for fish (we have salmon ladders but I know those aren’t perfect) I’ve always been curious if it’s a greener option. Totally get I should research this myself lol, so if you don’t want to answer no worries, I was just curious
I have a device that I use to compost food waste, had it on the balcony of my 1 room apartment and now in my basement storage unit. It is really easy, I just put my food waste in there and wait and all I need is some earth to mix it in.
The product is called: big blue bucket with a lid that I picked up from the curb one day. It cost $0 and is still working great after a decade, no noise, no electricity use. 10/10 would pick up from the curb again.
Perfect
Throw a few worms in too. Ups the efficiency.
😂😂
@@jairusstrunk94 One of the few times adding worms to a product makes it better! 😉
I made a rule to never buy items that need specialized disposable or refill components and the amount of trends I've passed up that I 1000% do not regret is scary. So many renewable or recyclables still make you buy their own refill and become dependent. The second I saw the filter and tablets I got flashbacks to coffee makers/cleaners/dispencers/air fresheners/juicers/food processors we all should ignore or have become discontinued. Hopefully this kind of product will get alternative knock offs or something for more options.
I think the tablets are mostly for those who want to use the dirt for their plants specifically and is not mandatory
@@wolffisu thats good :)
Why would you want knockoffs on a nearly prefect product. You don’t have to pay this. You know that you can make your own compost. It’s the easiest crap ever. Though if you don’t want it to smell then this is the perfect product.
@@chocolatebunny3221 I don't thing anything is ever truly perfect the first time, I'd like to see how others change things about this for different purposes and customerbases, maybe it can ve honed or maybe knockoffs could be affordable even if they don't improve anything about it and this could be a kleenex vs. off brand trade off. I certainly can't afford this iteration but maybe some off brand I could. Overall just a good idea to not have one company in control of an invention like this.
@@Pickledmacaroni yeah knock offs are okay in some instances (I. E fashion) if they have their patent for their product then it’s okay to “copy” it just give them credit
I would love to see a net zero breakdown on "sustainable" products of how much you need to utilize it before you break even on waste-- factoring in its manufacture, transportation, and energy it uses.
Reduce is definitely the least sexy and least marketable piece of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... but it's also the first for a reason. It's _by_ _far_ the most impactful on the environment.
Well said
Preach. It's very trendy to reuse the plastic items that you can turn into cute craft projects. The idea of recycling is also popular, though the execution is often sorely lacking on a personal and systematic level. But reducing waste and recognizing how ingrained this consumerist culture has become, is still widely ignored. It sometimes feels like people are seeking peace of mind more than actual solutions, which allows them to keep their high standard of living and enjoy the act of buying, and "offset" it later. I'm not pretending I'm much better by the way, I'm also a part of the problem.
It's a scam. Proven to be one. Watch Thunderf00t's latest video on it .
It's a $500 dehydrator/food processor. It still needs to go through the process of breaking down before it can actually be used to fertilize plants.
LOL TRUE, I use my blender to blend up my scraps and put them in a dirt bin outside, its literally more effective than this
It turns out it's a breadmaker!! Watch Thunderf00t's latest video on it
I dunno, it's kinda weird to have an eco product made of plastic, using electricity all day, probably shipped from overseas and made by people in poverty, that does something you could do/make yourself from recycled stuff? I dunno, the compost barrel my landlady has isn't very big or take much maintenance. I understand you would at least need a balcony for it if you live in an apartment, so it's not feasible for all. I dunno, this appliance doesn't seem like it outweighs it's bad with the good.
I can’t remember who said it, but I’ve heard some one say that we can’t buy our way into sustainability, and that feels very relevant to this product and a lot of the “sustainability industry”. Using what you have will go a million times further than buying something new, in terms of your own impact on the environment.
Totally agree1
It seems like manufacturing and powering a small appliance for "green purposes" probably doesn't work out for anyone other than the most dedicated of users. And maybe not even them, depending on how their locale generates electricity.
That's a really great point! Like Amanda mentioned, seems like one of those "makes you feel good / like you're doing something" type of products.
This is the single most greenwashed item on the planet. It wastes electriicity, just to make dry, but not compost, food.
Thanks mate, there seem to still be sane and thinking people around
But wasn't it proven in the video that the amount of electricity used was not noticeable on her electric bill? It's not a greenwashed product. Planters pay for dirt and people who pay for trash could lower the frequency that they need to pay to get it picked up. Everyone is just better off waiting for a brand to make it with a cheaper price tag, if you primarily cook in your kitchen it will save personal waste offsetting the electric use and then some. If you eat out most of your waste cannot go in the Noom and would be useless, this is a product for people/families especially who eat primarily at home.
@@Kay-rl9zw it’s not a composter. It’s a scam
@@Beanskiiii Does it compost?
Edit: I’m going to add the definition of compost just in case you do disagree,
com·post
decayed organic material used as a plant fertilizer.
"cover with a layer of fine compost"
@@Kay-rl9zw no. It does not compost. Nothing is decayed by this device and infarct it makes life more difficult for things wanting to actually decay the waste by dehydrating it...
This machine seems to capitalize on people with money who “want to be green” like people with 100k electric cars and tiny homes that are designed by famous architects. They’re selling a lifestyle. Save your money and get a compost bin that you can keep in your backyard for $60.00 bucks. And if $60.00 bucks is too much just get a bucket and dig a hole in your backyard, it’s what we did growing up.
So glad you reviewed the LOMI I watch a lot of gardening and plant care videos and get it advertised to me so much. This is going to be kind of a long comment but thanks to anyone who takes the time to read the whole thing.
I was initially pretty skeptical of it because many "quick" compost devices are just glorified blender/ ovens that just break up and dry organic waste. I do think that it is a good solution for somebody who lives in a place where they don't have an outdoor space to compost or vermicompost. If you did have an outdoor space I don't see any reason why you would spend money on this instead of just composting which doesn't use any electricity and doesn't cost you $500.
A couple of small corrections to your comments on compost. Compost does actually generate greenhouse gases but it's a relatively small amount. The bacteria that break down organic waste produce CO2 and if you don't turn your pile frequently and it becomes anaerobic then it may produce methane. Methane isn't a hazard for the Ozone layer but it is a significantly stronger greenhouse gas than CO2. The benefits of composting really come down to removing organic waste from taking up space in landfills and the associated carbon footprint of transporting waste to a landfill. I agree with your general sentiment that individual actions aren't really enough to counteract all the other contributions from our everyday lives and major companies.
The main reason I compost is because I have quite a few plants and it's worthwhile for me to compost organic material and use as a soil amendment.
Anyways thanks for the review I really enjoyed it.
No shit, the reason why these "rapid composters" have always been gimmicks is because trying to turn waste into dirt or compost in 24 hours is fundamentally impossible. That's all the vast majority of these things are, and have ever been.
As a native Hawai’ian born and raised in the islands, this is giving white savior vibes.
I feel like this product has a niche where it could be good/useful, but honestly, that niche shouldn't really exist.
Collecting and processing biodegradable waste should be a government issue. That's the best way to compost (or even generate biogas) for everyone.
If they made it
For me it never made sense why I was being served ads for this thing since everywhere I've lived in the past 8 years has had food waste pickup with trash service. It feels like a much bigger difference can be made if cities start programs like that to make composting accessible for all rather than hoping enough individuals buy a $500 compost grinder
Last time I replaced my garbage disposal, it came with a long screed about how environmentally friendly and green it was to use a disposal. They had a point, sewage treatment plants are better able to deal with it on a larger scale. That is assuming they deal with the waste properly. And aside from the disposal, there isn’t much cost. The logic is similar to electrification, once everything goes to or comes from one place, you have a point where you can optimize the crap out of things.
It's a desiccation machine, it does not make compost... It uses up energy, making it the opposite of sustainable. I liked thunderfoot's video on this.
Thunderfoot’s a really unreliable source and I disagree with a lot of the points they made in their video. Very simply, the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the energy Lomi consumes is a fraction of the greenhouses gases that would be produced if the food went to a landfill. Lomi isn’t a necessity by any means, but it’s not a bad product either.
@@tjfm2456 Sure, the guy is very opinionated. Still, I think a real compost file would be a much better solution if you have a backyard. If not, dedicated organic waste bins are the way. We have them here as a part of recycling program as well as bins for glass, recyclable plastic and paper.
@@AngryTapeworm I totally agree that you shouldn’t get Lomi if you have a local composting program or a way to do so on your own. Lomi is a luxury eco-product for sure.
Absolutely useless in Finland where I live: everyone separates food waste here and we have special food waste bins. Another newish and cool thing is that we started getting bins for plastic as well. All the plastic, metals, glass, bottles and food waste is separate and is processed differently.
It’s the same thing in Canada as well! At least in Ontario, not sure about the other provinces
Same in Italy, it's been this way for ages here.
My partner and I were part of the initial backers on Kickstarter for Lomi, and we were very excited for it. We are relatively environmentally conscious people and try to reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions as much as possible. Lomi is great because our landlord doesn't pay for composting, so we can't compost our food nor the compostable plastics that we get at the grocery store or coffee shops. Type 7 PLA plastic can be broken down in Lomi approved mode, but it can't be broken down in a backyard compost with worms, and also it can't be recycled, and it doesn't break down in a landfill. This is a great way for us to be able to dispose of compostable plastics. I like Lomi's consistent sound, it's a little loud, but it's constant enough that I can sleep to it if I run it late at night with the bedroom door open. Also, I find the quality of the dirt is inconsistent. If you put food with a lot of water in it, it will have a slimy consistency, but I've found that if you leave your food a bit longer in the Lomi so it grows a little mold before it breaks down, the dirt quality actually increases dramatically. I've never had an issue with the smell of the food except when opening the lid to add more in there. I would never suggest that every single household should have a Lomi, but if you are an eco-conscious consumer who sorts their trash and you sometimes take compostable plastics home, it can be a great addition.
26:30 I don't think they're forcing scarcity; I think people don't realize how much work goes into the difference between building one prototype and manufacturing it on a large scale. It's really difficult. There's a reason that EVs aren't widely available even for people who want them.
Have they shown how it composts PLA or is it just "in theory" that it can do?
@@frosty_brandon I think the forcing scarcity idea comes from the way the info is presented rather than the reality of supply. You could just list when the next Lomi is available, but instead, they need to show you how many batches are sold out, so you hurry up and buy one yourself.
if it can properly compost pla, lomi could be a big help for eco-conscious 3d printing hobbyists, since most 3d filaments are pla
It doesn't actually "compost" anything. It just dessicates and grinds it up. The "dirt" still has to be broken down by organisms and enzymes before it's usable by plants
whenever a company or organization mentions being apart of a community alarm bells go off for me, cause usually it's a mlm or toxic type environment.
Since you live (I’m assuming, from other videos) in the LA area, you can just add your food waste to any green bin with grass cuttings and similar. I suspect that a large scale composting operation would be more effective anyways. (And they make bigger composable bags in the style of doggy poop bags to store your compost in the kitchen.)
In my city I spend $10 a month for a compost bucket that gets picked up weekly and the organization picks it up, make compost, and use it all over the city and locals can buy it cheap. I hope this is more common so people don't have to spend $500.
When I rented houses with roomates I definitely had some unapproved compost piles, but no landlord ever found them. If you have a yard, compost is stupid easy. Just make a pile of food scraps and leaves away from the house. Dont put in meat or dairy, maybe stir it if it gets big. I never had one of my compost piles smell. Currently I use a compost tumbler, a little more difficult as you need more leaves and paper or it will smell, but it composts faster and works about perfectly for one person emptying it twice a year. Mine has two compartments and cost $80.
Love the concept, hate the price tag
Lots of farmer's markets can have compost programs where you drop off your bucket when it's full and get a new one. I know for a fact Columbus Ohio had one pre covid
Agreed, but just as a small detail I will say that Pela (and the Lomi) is based in Canada, not the US. They're actually based in my hometown! 😅 Great video and love the critiques you made!! 💗
dammit i knew i was getting something with them wrong
@@SwellEntertainment it's okay, the energy is basically the same as a Cali company lmfao, lots of sunshine and west coast bros! Kelowna is like California's little sibling - we're even called "Kelownafornia" and "Napa of the North" 🥴
Amanda: "I have a bucket of dirt!"
Me: "I have a jar of dirt! I have a jar of dirt! And guess what's inside it!"
Glad I wasn't the only one who had to pause to chant it
My main concern here is, how well broken down is the stuff you put in? Things generally take a while to break down into compost (I’m saying this as an employee at a garden center and a horticulture enthusiast, but I’m by no means an expert), so the operation time being only a few hours has me a little skeptical. It certainly looks like compost, but my worry is that it’s just finely-ground plant scraps and stuff that’s not broken down enough to be used as a soil component. And if it’s not broken down enough, mold and fungus could become an issue if you try to plant stuff in it (not to mention the plants might just rot themselves).
Again, I’ve never seen one of these things in person, and I’m sure that they did a good amount of QC on this. But there’s also a long history of environmentalism and horticulture “hacks” and “shortcuts” that are just scams. I also know that stuff like used coffee grounds are fine to put into soil immediately (I’ve done it with no issue), so maybe I’m miscalculating the amount of breakdown time that other stuff needs. Who knows.
Its so disheartening to me that I could recycle and compost and try my best to use or buy almost zero plastic for my entire life, but I doubt that would even offset a single airplane trip in the sky
Oh man you should of watched Thunderfoot first. He destroyed that thing!
I’m a horticulturalist but I’m too lazy to compost after 9 hours of plant work, this product was made for me. 500 bucks is pricy so I’ll have to save up for it but I’m definitely excited to get one :)
So this is sped up Bokashi Composting. You could do the same with a cheap blender, a bucket, water and microbes easily $40 vs $500
But I see the research and such being a barrier to entry. I do think things like this are good to exist because gift giving. Like ha I got you fancy compost thing
@@LizStaples idk I'd rather hear more about the above composting method than try to justify buying a 500 "gift"
maybe if we make that information way more accessible, we can help people not have to look to the lomi for solutions!
Lomi was probably taken from the word loam which is a type of soil. I think it has equal amounts of sand, silt, and clay and it's considered a very fertile soil for growing things.
I’d buy your dirt for the meme, but I feel like putting it in the mail to send will reverse the good work you did. Even the small amount of electricity you use would cancel the effect. Mulching banana peel, is it worth having a device plugged into a wall for a minimum of 12 hours a month in your case? There are many community based composting efforts that use nature to compost. No energy use required.
I am glad I find this channel and the lovely people commenting, this will help me save a lot of money and waste from trendy products I am always tempted to buy
I love tech bro approaches to things that already exist on a product scale as well as on an environment scale.
Product scale, you can get a compost bin (box) for like $50.00 at a hardware store.
If you have access to wood pallets you could build a compost bin for "cheap"
Environment scale, plant matter will break down just being out and about in the world so like nature does it for you.
$500.00 for a tech approach to something that already exists for FAR less money is so us. Not us as in the U.S. but us as in current humans. We need to reinvent the wheel and make it modern when really this is just a WAY overpriced compost bin. Now excuse me I have to turn my compost bin over.
It seems very tech bro, not very human. I think most people would look at this and go “why is this a thing?”
For real. And no thought put in to the environmental impact of mining the materials required to make this thing that runs on electricity. Silly imo!
"No one tell Papa Swell" is a hell of a catchphrase for the chaotic videos
Get a Folgers or maxwell coffee can, those prevent smell leaks
We’ve had a wormery that takes the majority of our food waste for about 20 years. Granted, it needs to be in a garden as it’s quite big, but you can get tiny ones designed to be kept indoors now! Much much cheaper, no power required 😅
your face at saying Swell Soil i love it
Composting is a good thing, but at least in our household the big problem is the amount of packaging material. Very little plastic you get is really recyclable. Ideally we’d avoid as much of this packaging as we can, but for working people that’s a real challenge. Products like this are not evil, but I wish companies would stop claiming such big environmental benefits for products.
Idk why, but I feel the need to say "I have a jar of dirtttt, I have a jar of dirt!!!"
at the beginning of this video i was thinking of what people who don't need dirt could do with this, and packaging it and selling it was one of my first thoughts
I wonder if you could hide that under your sink if you had the space. Might quiet the noise as well as save counter space. If you have a garbage disposer in your sink, you'd likely have an outlet to plug it into, albeit likely hooked to a switch.
We actually have these in the country. Most farms have one. Actually most have 10 - 20. We call them Pigs though.
Anyone with even a tiny amount of outdoor space/balcony space - get a Subpod mini on the moveable trolley. Costs the same but you get a garden bed out of it too and no energy cost. Studio apartments with just the one room - probably don't need more than a small bokashi bin.
I’m so excited for your review of this. I needed an unbiased review of this thing.
Compost is great, but it is not dirt. It is rotted organic material and great to add to the dirt.
There’s tons of comments that are negative about this. But I’m still tempted to get one. As my current place has no recycling and I doubt we have a community garden in the town.
Do you have a garbage disposal?
@@electric7487 garbage disposals are not suitable for many types of waste as they can clog up depending on the size of the pipes they are linked to. My landlord said the garbage disposal was to be used as little as possible. Definitely no egg shells or orange peels. No compost service either. :(
Love your analysis and teaching us about waste. Thanks Amanda!
I love you talk about your like of the dirt. It made my day.
I have a pela phone case, despite being kinda thin and flimsy feeling (I was using otterboxes before) it protects my phone really well, is pretty durable (parts aren’t coming loose), and I have a nice sedate color I like. The Lomi concerns me because while I can’t actually speak to the affect the dehydration with have on future mycorrhizal relationships, I’d personally prefer to let the decomposers who make compost, compost, and they need a moist environment to do that.
If you already own a guarden, why not just do it the old school way of just putting it all on a pile outside and wait?
She literally says that she doesn't have a garden or else he would do that.
@@autumnautopsy yeah but then what do you do with the stuff that this product creates?
@@Purplesquigglystripe you can have plants in pots. In your home. Without a garden.
i literally just use a tub might take longer but it was dirt cheap ;) its just composting surely ?
make no mistake, this is NOT a composter
love the tub idea!
Amanda: $500 is an INVESTMENT
Me: [violently shoving MCR concert ticket out of sight] 💀 💀 💀 💀
Well said. Very well said.
Yeah, I highly encourage everyone who lives in apartments to at least start a building compost and, if you have the space, get together and start a garden. Any lawn will do
I saw an ad for this and I just knew you'd want to review it! That price is crazy, it needs to be more accessable, I hate forced scarcity too. It's a cool little gadget though.
Do Americans not have food/organic waste bins along with cardboard, plastic, glass and general waste bins? I have no idea how America recycles or if it's a big thing there since I'm Scottish.
If people have gardens they can just make a traditional compost pile.
P.s- omg, swell soil is a great name 😆. You can use it for a base to different soils. For example adding sand, pumice and grit for cacti and succulent soil etc.
You’re my favourite TH-camr now.
my city picks up food waste every week and they make compost for city gardens ect. cities near me (toronto ontario) it is required to put food waste in a green bin to be picked up for compost
I do worm compost, in my house. Very easy once you get the hang of it and caring for thousands of little mouths 💖
19:05 When you mentioned what it could do to your finger......and where my mind went with that, means I watch too much true crime.
My personal opinion on the whole individual environmental vs corporate mentality is that corporations need laws that better monitor their effects on the environment and that thats where real tangible change will happen but I as a single person cant make that happen and if I do my little things that help it might compound with other peoples efforts and lower our effect a little, and a little is better then none. I do think that corporations do have a tendency to place blame on consumers and guilt us into thinking its actually our fault the world is the way it is which is not true at all.
Wait...what does this have to do with stopping plastic on the beach? This thing is made of plastic.
Wait, is it normal for 500 people to be living in a building in LA? Holy crap.
“I got a jar of dirt I got a jar of dirt and guess what’s inside it”
I wish they would make a mini version. You know, for single people or someone who doesn't eat that many veggies ect.
When I lived in a small apartment I had a plastic bin for worms and it worked really amazing and didn't smell very much plus with it being right in my kitchen it was super easy to get the worms food.
Literally watching to see if you watched the Thunderfoot video before you bought it 😂
making compost spending electricity is making a hole in your boat to fix a hole in your boat .
You feel like you are saving yourself, but in reality you are destroying another part of your world .
I don’t know why, but I would 100% buy your dirt.
If the price ever comes down I might get one for my parents’ chicken’ eggs’ shells and make my own cagefree/free range calcium supplements. I can probably just use a food processor, but that wouldn’t feel nearly as official.
Been DYING for these deets!
I know you may not have space for it but maybe since you don’t want to plug it in to your house electricity you could buy a Solar portable battery and just use the California sun for benefit and you will just have to charge the battery every once in a while if no light. But if doubles as emergency power also so you could do that.
I wonder what about the process turns the scraps to dirt? Are the scraps just being heated and mixed around until they break down?
My partner's mom just keeps a (empty) plastic kitty litter container under the kitchen sink and empties it every week or two. Works perfectly well, doesn't smell, and doesn't cost $500 or use any power haha
Honestly this would be extremely helpful for apartment complexes for those who don't have access to community composting and likes to garden. The price point is a high bar to set for utilization and it kinda bums me out that this wouldn't be affordable for those who would use it frequently.
Will you do True Earth Laundry detergent? Their ads are everywhere and they make tons of environmental claims but the price point is so high, I'm not sure it's worth it in the inflation hellscape we're currently living in
Thank you for checking this out!!
Slight correction but I’m not sure if this is universal, but i did a work study at a local landfill and the huge pyramid mountains were actually like lasagna, dirt/trash/dirt/trash not just trash pile. The dirt both contains the garbage from literally flying away in the wind (plus rain water to act as cementing) and occasional layers of biodegradable tarp covering.
I’d love to see an update video on the lomi in like half a year
$59 a month, plus it needs energy and consumables to run…sheesh. We don’t have gov. provided composting where I live, but I can get a company to pick up food scraps of $18 a month and they’ll give you back compost. If I had an outdoor area I’d do it myself.
YALL I READ THE TITLE MULTIPLE TIMES AND THOUGHT IT SAID DIRT MARKER 💀
Omg thanks for reviewing this! I’ve been totally sus about if this thing works or not cause it seems to good to be true…
Swell should review the Lomi 2 lol
My apartment building (an MANY in my province) don’t allow composting because it brings bugs and flys also it smells pretty bad if you don’t clean it regularly
I wish I could compost but we are literally forbidden from it and could get evicted
"I have a bucket of dirt" 🤣
Yay! Can't wait! Been wondering about this! I bought the hapbee because I was bombarded with ads. Hapbee not so cool
if i remeber correctly there are some kitchen that use a massive version of this to recycle there waste food into dirt that they cell
the psycho poster I love it
this thing is a scam. watch the thunderf00t video about it
its so freaky how your apartmen in cali looks like my apartment in florida. only difference is the fridge. same color, different model
Just to comment on the 'billionaires going to space are bad for the environment' side comment at 4:00 ish - I firmly disagree that the space sector (whether it be private companies or state agencies like NASA) is an obstacle for addressing climate change - if anything, it is a long-term solution. The space sector is responsible for a tiny amount of global emissions, and offers lots of promise for ways humanity can technologically progress in future without putting ever greater strain on the planet.
For example, Earth Observation satellites offer a much less carbon intensive way to image the Earth compared to aerial imagery, their biggest competitor, and one of their strongest use cases at the moment is for environmental monitoring. Satellite Telecommunications is also probably less environmentally damaging that having all the ground infrastructure you'd otherwise need on Earth to do the same things.
In the future, if we can mine the asteroid belt and manufacture things in space or in other celestial bodies without a biosphere, that would also be better than doing equivalent things on Earth. In the very long term, space colonisation might enable us to return large portions of the Earth to nature.
More investment in space is a fantastic thing - whatever your opinion of billionaires is.
Me: 🎶it’s my Shit INNA BOX🎶
Honestly, the first thing I thought about was selling dirt.
It’s a good idea and all, but I’d rather just stick with my usual routine of taking all of my food scraps, going out in the middle of the night and burying them in the forest.
I've wanted one of these (or similar from another company, vitamix has one as well) but the price is a big no from me. I've been trying to compost but we don't have a lot of space, so something like this would be faster and take up less space. If they were more affordable I would have bought something like this a while ago. I dunno why sustainability products like this are apparently only for the wealthy.
Watching this as I sift my compost.
This is just the city version of a burn pit for garbage. The thing about composting (as an engineer that was actually educated on solid waste management) is that composting has a lot going on. Composting (at an actual facility, not your backyard compost pit (no shade, that's what my fam uses)) considers carbon/nitrogen ratio of source materials and final product, pH, operating temperature (both for compost breakdown AND for sterilization of pathogens), oxygen (you want oxygen for the microbes to break the compost down, otherwise you get anaerobic microbes, methane, and stinky compost), and a bunch of other factors. The "dirt" created by lomi is just dehydrated shredded food waste, with no way to monitor or control the quality or properties of it. I wonder how it actually functions as compost, if rehydrating it with soil causes it to smell like decaying food. Is it even producing stable "compost"? Look, the moisture content of food waste is about 70% (varies, but fruit/veg can be much higher), so just drying out the food and compacting it via shredding WOULD cause a pretty noticeable volume reduction. That's one of the big reasons to compost, because there's no reason to be throwing away all that water into landfills. Again, the lomi is essentially a mini garbage burn pit--it uses energy to reduce the volume of garbage but doesn't really turn the waste into a useful product. Also don't burn trash in your backyard, it releases a ton of fumes, particulate materials, etc that are very hazardous to human and environmental health. Incinerators and waste-to-energy facilities (i.e., burn trash to make electricity) are strictly regulated and monitored. I understand the complex emotions behind all of this, the guilt and the need to do something, anything, even if it won't fix the larger problem, but in this case, save your money. If you have a larger apartment or a basement, look into vermiculture (worm composting), you can easily create a worm composer out of a plastic cabinet that produces good compost, doesn't smell much, and is relatively low maintenance. Also, many cities that have trash/recycling collection pickup often have yard waste collections, where you can drop off yard waste (grass, clippings, fallen branches, etc) and sometimes they accept food waste as well, so there may be more options in your local area
I was actually just looking into the Lomi and even bookmarked it yesterday! I found out about it because I got a Pela phone case
You had a very long talk about this meaning that you do your little part.
But does it mean that?
What went into creating this machine? What metals were used, what transport, what plastics, what paper, what energy?
Every time you buy a new gadget you have to consider: is there actually any chance that this will “pay” for itself environmentally. Will it be a net gain, compared to having the waste compost itself in the land fill.
Without doing the math, I highly doubt that this thing will come out on top when all is said and done.
I mean presumably if the product does get used to grow plants it will be slightly better. Because some of it is turning back into plants rather than being compost just sitting in a landfill eventually.
Another name idea - AmanDirt™ "It's Swell!"