Vitamix has taken it’s blender expertise, and put it to use not just for making smoothies, but dealing with your food waste in the kitchen. Their new food recycler, called the Eco 5, is an upgrade over the previous generation FC-50.
The new FoodCycler ECO 5 can hold twice as much food waste – 5 liters rather than the previous 2.5 liters. It grinds up your food waste into small enough chunks that speed up the composting process, and allow you to add it directly to the soil in your garden or even house plants.
The Vitamix Eco 5 is simple to use. Simply toss your food scraps in the waste bucket. The bucket is removable, so you can keep it under the sink or wherever is most convenient. It also has a carbon filter lid so that you don’t have to smell any decomposing food while you work on filling the bucket up.
Once the waste bucket is full, place it into the Eco 5 unit, and press the button. The FoodCycler will reduce food scraps to a tenth of their original volume in four to eight hours.
Once the machine is done doing it’s thing, mix the nutrient-rich plant food into garden beds, or toss into a composter. Since the FoodCycler has already started the process, your compost time will be given a head start.
Vitamix Eco 5 Review
We haven’t had a chance to get ouru hands on one of these FoodCycler units yet, so we can give you a comprehensive FoodCycler review from personal experience (Vitamix if you’re reading this, contact us!).
However, a quick scan of online reviews shows that people are really impressed with this unit. From the carbon filter to prevent odors, to the quietness of the machine, Vitamix has created a unit that can be run multiple times a day.
Our Thoughts on the Eco 5
Much of the marketing for this FoodCycler is based on the food waste going to landfills and creating greenhouse gases. While all those are great things to avoid, we have to wonder what the trade-off is. We couldn’t find any information on how much energy the 4-8 hour cycle of the ECO 5 consumes while trying to reduce emissions. We’d like to test this ourselves to get a better idea.
Regardless of net energy gain or not, if you’re dealing with lots of food scraps, it’s still a great way to get to quick compost, rather than dealing with a big stinky pile of food scraps in the back corner of your yard.
Now we need to know if this can handle our grass clippings too?!
What can you add to the FoodCycler Eco 5?
For the best results, add a diverse mixture of foods, avoiding large amounts of a single food. And mix it up, add heavier food scraps with lighter, dryer foods. For highly fibrous foods like corncobs, chop them into smaller palm-sized pieces before adding to the machine.
Vitamix gives a list of foods that you can always add to your Eco 5 FoodCycler:
- Most fruit and vegetable scraps
- eggs and sheels
- meat, fish, shellfish, poultry scraps, chicken and fish bones
- cereals & grains
- cheese
- coffee grounds, filters and tea bags
- beans, seeds and legumes
- pet food
Here are some foods you can add sometimes:
- starches like bread, rice and pasta
- nut butters
- citrs fruit rinds
- condiments, dressings, sauces and soups
- jam, jellies, marmalades
- high sugar fruits like grapes, cherries and bananas
And these are the foods that the unit can’t handle:
- hard bones like beef and pig bones
- hard pits from apricots, peaches etc
- candy and gum
- cooking oils and grease
- pineapple leaves
- nuts and other hard shells
Vitamix Eco 5 Warranty
Vitamix offers a 3-year full warranty.
We stand behind the quality of our products with full warranties, covering all parts, performance, labor, and two-way shipping at no cost to you.
The Vitamix Eco 5 foodcycler is an effortless alternative to composting, and it reduces the volume of food waste by up to 90%. Food scraps and uneaten leftovers are broken down into a nutrient-rich soil amendment that can be mixed right into your garden soil.
The large 5-liter capacity ensures you won’t have food scraps sitting around waiting for the next cycle. And since the Eco 5 grinds food waste into a fine, dry powder, it’s more easily broken down when mixed with soil.
Large Capacity
The 5-liter bucket offers twice the capacity of the previous generation FoodCycler FC-50.
Refillable Filters
Rather than throwing them away, filters in Eco 5 can be refilled with new carbon pellets.
Convenient
Our compact food recycler reduces food waste to a fraction of its original volume overnight.
Compact
The Eco 5 fits almost anywhere—store it on the counter, in the pantry, or in the garage.
Easy To Use
The Eco 5 cycles through 8 phases to turn food waste into plant food with the press of a button.
Odorless & Quiet
The refillable carbon filter and quiet cycles make the Eco 5 ideal for indoor use.
What comes in the box
- FoodCycler by Vitamix Eco 5
- Bucket & Lid
- Refillable Filter
- Carbon Refill
Didn’t see any info that wasn’t on the company website. Wasted my time reading your article.