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FoodCycler fail: Expensive new appliance does nature’s job (but worse)

Is this the most useless appliance ever created?

Is this the most useless appliance ever created? Photo: Choice

In what can only be described as a complete lapse in judgment, Breville has been called out for developing an appliance described by Choice as “illogical”.

An expensive new food disposal system called the FoodCycler has been created to do the job of your everyday compost bin.

Because why let nature do its thing when you can spend money and energy doing it much, much worse (and with an annoying, high-pitched ringing sound)?

Fiona Mair from consumer advocacy group Choice branded the $499 appliance “one of the most illogical appliances” she had seen.

“The FoodCycler is a food disposal system that pulverises and dehydrates your food waste, turning it into odourless chips which can be put into your bin or garden,” said Ms Mair, Choice’s kitchen expert.

“If you’re someone who is environmentally conscious and looking for an easy way to compost your food scraps, this is one of the poorest choices you could make.

“Each cycle takes about four to eight hours, and due to the device’s small capacity you can really only fit about one meal’s worth of scraps in there at a time.”

The FoodCycler emits a loud, irritating high-pitched noise. Photo: Choice

The odourless ‘eco chips’ had to be stored for 90 days before being sprinkled into your soil due to health risks.

Performance tests found that, in addition to the irritating ringing noise, running the FoodCycler seven times a week would incur a cost of $86 per year on energy alone.

This doesn’t take into account the price of replacing the filter, which is required three times per year and adds up to $159.80 per year.

You also need to replace the bucket lid carbon filter every six months, which will set you back an additional $63.20.

All together, you’re looking at dropping more than $300 per year to compost your food scraps.

“Any benefits for the environment that you’re producing through using this device are really lessened by the electricity costs, and the contribution you’re making to landfill with the replacement filters,” Ms Mair said.

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