Mill Arrives in Homes Across the Country

Bins Began Shipping to Customers in April
People Already Reporting Less Trash, Fresher Kitchens, Increased Awareness of Food Waste

SAN BRUNO, Calif., June 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mill today shared early results and feedback from people who are using its food recycling service to prevent wasting food at home. 

Food waste is terrible for the planet, and a hassle to deal with at home. Rotting food can smell and attract fruit flies and other rodents. As food decomposes in a landfill it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than CO₂ over a 20 year period. 

Mill changes all of that by closing the loop in the food system, turning kitchen scraps into food for chickens. The Mill kitchen bin dehydrates and removes odor from wasted food overnight, turning it into nutrient-rich Food Grounds. Once the kitchen bin is full ? which takes a few weeks ? Food Grounds are picked up, processed, and turned into food for chickens. You can reserve your bin while supplies last at mill.com/reservation. 

Here's a snapshot of how people have been using Mill since its launch:

Mill is a habit that sticks

• Mill is passing the "toothbrush test" - 99% of users are interacting with the bin more than twice a day. On average, households are pressing the pedal more than seven times per day. 
• A recent survey of Mill customers revealed that over 94% of respondents would recommend Mill to a friend. 
• When asked about the benefits of the service, customers cite:
• 1) Convenience, ease, and at-home impact 
• 2) Reduction in trash volume 
• 3) Increased awareness of food waste and money saved at the grocery store

Using Food Grounds to feed chickens conserves energy and nutrients in the food system

• It takes about three weeks to fill up the Mill kitchen bin, and households are sending in a box of Food Grounds every five to six weeks, weighing an average of 10lbs. 
• One household in Virginia sent back a box of Food Grounds weighing in at 24.98 pounds. That one box contained enough food to contribute to an egg-laying chicken's diet for more than a year?keeping about 8.5 standard trash bags of food out of the landfill, and avoiding ~83 kg-CO₂e emissions (equivalent to not driving 213 miles in the average car). 
• Mill's average energy usage is similar to running a load in the dishwasher every other day, and Mill's preliminary LCA estimates that households that use the Mill service can avoid about a half-ton of emissions per household per year. 

Mill's business continues to expand, with partnership deals and pilots happening across the spectrum of government, private enterprise, and multi-family buildings, demonstrating the broad resonance of Mill's offering 

• Mill's pilot with the City of Tacoma is underway, offering residents the potential to save more than $25 per month on their waste bill by shifting food from curbside collection containers to their Mill kitchen bin and downsizing their garbage service. 
• In the first month, nearly half of survey respondents noticed a reduction in the amount of trash they take to the curb and had become more aware of the food they don't eat. 
• Over one-third of respondents said they were shocked at how much of their trash was actually food waste. 
• Over half of respondents had not previously used the City's curbside organics service, reflecting the fact that Mill is increasing the number of households not sending food to landfills.
• Mill kicked off its first multi-family housing pilot at Lendlease's Clippership Wharf in Boston. Learnings from this pilot will inform how Mill can help keep food out of the trash in multi-family buildings while reducing costs, smells, and rodents for management and residents.
• Mill is closing the loop in the food system by turning kitchen scraps into food for chickens. To enable this, Mill opened its first feed facility, starting with R&D work, in Mukilteo, Washington. The facility will handle all the necessary processes needed to create a commercially available chicken feed ingredient. 
• Mill has signed deals with three companies, including a major tech company, to offer the Mill service as an employee benefit. As a new kind of climate-oriented benefit, this helps people reduce wasted food at home and measure collective impact, and enables companies to meet corporate sustainability commitments to address food waste and loss beyond office walls. 

"What our team has learned from building products at companies like Apple and Nest is that in order for a product to be sustainable, the habit of using it has to be sustainable, too," said Matt Rogers, CEO and Co-founder of Mill. "Mill customers have told us they're taking fewer trips to the trash and when they do, their trash is less heavy, gross, and wet. We've heard that seeing uneaten food turned into fresh Food Grounds in the morning feels like magic. The idea that doing something good for the planet could feel like magic?that's exactly the kind of feedback I get excited about, and what makes Mill a game changer. We've been humbled by people's overwhelming response and are energized by what the reduction in household food waste emissions will mean for the planet." 

Mill is a part of the family

• Some favorite names for the Mill kitchen bin include SomMILLier, Notorious B.I.N., Shrute Bin, Bozee, Chopper, Al Gore, and Cleopactra. 
• People are using the Mill service and impact tracking features to create educational moments for the whole family, teaching children that small habits add up to big impact. 
• Mill's app comes with a comprehensive food library, where people can learn more about specific food items. The top three most commonly searched foods are 1.) Beef 2.) Artichokes and 3.) Avocados. One of the most surprising items people realized they could Mill is crab legs. 
• "Can't wait to get home to Milligan! I've missed her." - Mill Customer

Here's what people are saying:

• "I am loving my Mill in my new home. Less food waste into the ecosystem, and [since my town has a weight limit for garbage] the money I spend is better than break-even." - Mill Customer

• "I told someone the other day this might be my favorite consumer device of the last 5 years." - Mill Customer

• "Our family started composting at home a number of times in the past, but we have always given up when the mess, smell, or cleaning became too much hassle. Mill has solved all of those problems and we're finally dealing with our food waste in a sustainable way!"- Mill Customer

• "Of all the tech we have brought into our lives, the thing that makes me feel most like we're happily in The Jetsons is our Mill. It's so sleek and shiny and pretty. It takes what would be a mess, quietly deals with something I don't want to bother with? and it turns it into something truly valuable. It's this little bit of what I imagined the future would be like when I was a boy. Not all of my hopes were dashed." - Mill Customer

• "I'm saving $18 / month on my garbage collection by reducing from two bins to one." - Mill Customer

• "I forgot to take out the trash during our two pickups last week and the trash was only half full this week." - Mill Customer

• "Our Food Grounds smell so good!" - Mill Customer

• "Before the Mill, I wasn't very conscious of my food waste. Now every time I throw food in there, I think about it. In turn, I've been buying fewer groceries and reducing the number of things that go bad in my fridge before I can use them!" ? Mill Customer 

• "I really am happy that there is a solution that doesn't involve a smelly bin in the kitchen or a huge barrel outside. It's so good." - Mill Customer 

About Mill Industries Inc. ("Mill")
Trash stinks. Together, we can do better. Mill has created a new system to help you outsmart waste at home. Learn more here. 

Mill was founded in 2020 by Matt Rogers and Harry Tannenbaum, who worked together at Nest, building the iconic Nest Learning Thermostat and other smart home products. The lessons they learned about encouraging new habits at home that are good for people and the planet were applied in creating Mill to change our perception of waste, starting in the kitchen.

Mill and Food Grounds are trademarks of Mill Industries Inc.

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SOURCE Mill Industries Inc.