Spacious capacity
Want more information on eco 5? Feel free to contact us.
Neutralizes odors
Easy to use
Lengthy cycles
Bulky
Credit: Reviewed / Camryn Rabideau / Vitamix
The Eco 5 FoodCycler comes with a spacious 5-liter capacity.
The Eco 5 FoodCycler is a countertop food recycling appliance. While a lot of people call these gadgets “kitchen composters,” I think it’s important to note that they don’t actually compost your food scraps.
True composting requires food and organic matter to decompose, and this process takes time—it can’t be done in a few hours. Instead, the FoodCycler dries out and shreds up food waste, reducing its volume by up to 90 percent. The resulting material looks a lot like soil, and because it’s high in nutrients, it can be added to your garden to feed the plants.
What can you put into the FoodCycler? The brand provides a full list of acceptable materials, but the highlights include all types of fruits and vegetables, meats, grains, cheese, eggs and shells, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, and even pet food.
In terms of things you shouldn’t put into the FoodCycler, you’ll want to avoid anything hard, such as fruit pits, bones, nuts, and even gum or candy. The brand also recommends including a mixture of different foods in each cycler, avoiding high concentrations of a single food.
Credit: Reviewed / Camryn Rabideau
Although both have a similar footprint, the updated FoodCycler model can fit double the food scraps compared to its predecessor.
One of the first things I noticed about the Eco 5 is that its bucket (which is where you put food scraps) is much larger than the previous model’s. In fact, it’s double the size!
The old model has a 2.5-liter bucket that fills up very quickly, especially if you’re making a meal that includes a lot of vegetables. When I make chicken noodle soup, for example, I often completely fill up the FC-50’s bucket with all the onion, celery, carrot, and potato scraps, meaning I have to run the machine more frequently.
By comparison, the new Eco 5 has a 5-liter bucket, and I was able to fit four days' worth of scraps in it—including egg shells, used coffee filters, leftover kale, and other miscellaneous vegetable remnants—with room to spare. (I could have waited a few more days to fill the bucket more, but I wanted to try it out!)
The bucket is really spacious and can easily hold several days' worth of scraps, making it perfect for people who cook a lot.
Credit: Reviewed / Camryn Rabideau
The before-and-after showed a drastic decrease in waste volume.
When I put the bucket full of food scraps into the Eco 5 FoodCycler, it was roughly two-thirds of the way full. I started up the machine—which is as easy as pressing the digital power button—and the next day, I opened it up to a much emptier bucket. In a matter of hours, several days' worth of food scraps were reduced down to just three-quarters cup of material. (Yes, I measured.)
The material that came out of the FoodCycler somewhat resembles dirt, but I could see flakes of egg shells and even small pieces of coffee filters mixed in. Overall, I was impressed at how much the waste was reduced, and I mixed the material into my garden before planting some seasonal flowers.
Credit: Reviewed / Camryn Rabideau
We love that the Eco 5 uses a refillable carbon pellet canister to neutralize odors.
To neutralize odors, the original FC-50 FoodCycler uses carbon filters that come in little plastic tubes, and they’re designed to be thrown away after a few months of use. As you might expect, a lot of people criticized the brand for including a disposable—not even recyclable—component in a machine that’s designed to help you be more eco-friendly.
It seems like the brand took note of this criticism, as they redesigned the odor-control mechanism for the Eco 5. The new model comes with a refillable filter canister, and you simply fill it up with the included bag of carbon pellets. When the pellets need to be replaced, you can pour them out and refill the canister with new ones.
The brand doesn’t specify what to do with the used pellets, but because they’re biodegradable, many people suggest grinding it up and adding it into your garden soil, too.
Credit: Reviewed / Camryn Rabideau
You'll definitely need to carve out kitchen space for this hefty appliance.
While the large 5-liter bucket may be a selling point for some people, I can also see how it might be too big for certain households.
After a few days, food scraps get smelly and moldy, and they can attract fruit flies. I try to run the FoodCycler at least every four or five days to avoid this. And with the Eco 5, sometimes the bucket was only one-third full.
The user’s manual says the machine works better if the bucket is full, and if you’re someone who doesn’t cook very often, I think the larger bucket might end up being more of a burden than a selling point.
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention the size of the FoodCycler itself. There’s no denying this appliance is quite large, and if you have a small kitchen, it will take up quite a bit of room. However, the Eco 5 isn’t that much larger than the FC-50, so this could be an issue regardless of which model you choose.
The first time I ran the Eco 5, I started the cycle around 2 p.m. I figured it would be done before I went to bed around 10 p.m., as the FC-50 generally only takes four to six hours per cycle. However, the Eco 5 was still running when I headed up to bed, and it still had two of its “cycle progression” marks to go.
I’m not sure how much additional time it required to complete the cycle, but I was definitely surprised that it took more than eight hours.
In terms of its noise level, the appliance isn’t loud, but you can hear it running—it’s a low humming sound, as well as the occasional scrape as it shreds up the contents.
If the noise bothers you, I’d recommend starting the cycle before you leave for work or go to bed to minimize disruptions. On subsequent cycles, I simply started them after dinner, and the machine was done by the morning.
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Credit: Vitamix
When it comes to easily reducing large volumes of food waste, it doesn't get better than the Eco 5 FoodCycler.
I was a fan of the original Vitamix FC-50 FoodCycler, and after a few weeks of testing, the Eco 5 seems to be a larger, more thoughtfully designed version of the original.
The Eco 5 is easy to use with a huge capacity that allows you to go longer between cycles. And while the price tag is high, I think it’s a worthwhile investment if you want to reduce food waste. It’s a great alternative for people who can’t create a traditional compost pile—such as city dwellers—as well as anyone who just doesn’t want to deal with a smelly bin full of decomposing produce. I live in the country, yet I’d much rather use the FoodCycler than tend a traditional compost pile!
Just keep in mind that you do need to create a fair bit of food waste to fill up this machine. If you don’t cook that often, you might be better off with the original version, which has a smaller capacity and, subsequently, shorter cycle times.
Vitamix Eco 5 FoodCycler
The Vitamix Eco 5 FoodCycler has spacious capacity, neutralizes odors, and is easy to use.
$600 at Amazon
Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.
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Camryn Rabideau
Contributor
@CamrynWritesCamryn Rabideau is a full-time freelance writer and product tester with eight years of experience. She's been lucky enough to test hundreds of products firsthand, and her specialties include bedding and pet products, which often require help from her two dogs, three cats, and flock of rambunctious chickens.
See all of Camryn Rabideau's reviewsOur team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
Shoot us an emailTechnology from Food Cycle Science Corporation Turns Food Waste into a Nutrient-Rich Soil
Amendment, Reducing the Volume of Food Waste by up to 90 percent
CLEVELAND, May 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Expanding efforts to address the urgent problem of food waste, Vitamix® and its technology partner, Food Cycle Science Corporation, are introducing a new-generation FoodCycler® – the Eco 5, a premium upgrade sized to address the food waste of an entire household with a streamlined look.
Vitamix® Introduces the Sleek Eco 5 – a FoodCycler® with Double the Capacity Vitamix® Introduces the Sleek Eco 5 – a FoodCycler® with Double the Capacity
With 5 liters of food waste capacity – compared to the Vitamix FC-50's 2.5 liters – the Eco 5 is not only larger than the previous generation, but also a step up in terms of style. It features a refillable carbon filter, creating less waste than disposable versions. Yet, just like the FC-50 introduced in 2020, the Eco 5 reduces the volume of food waste by 90% in just a few hours.
The FoodCycler technology behind the Eco 5 – as well as the FC-50 – was developed by Food Cycle Science, a Canadian company dedicated to reducing food waste through innovative commercial, municipal and household food recycling programs.
Combining this expertise with Vitamix's design and manufacturing leadership – as well as the brand's reputation for reliability and durability – brings consumers a simple, mess-free alternative to traditional composting that fits on the kitchen counter.
Decomposing food waste is responsible for about 6% of all global greenhouse gas, according to a 2018 study published in Science1, a peer-reviewed journal. To put that in context, the impact from food waste is roughly three times that of all global emissions from aviation.
"Vitamix made a name for ourselves creating high-performance blenders that allow consumers to use every part of an ingredient, addressing one component of the food waste problem, but expanding into the food cycler category creates solutions for the whole life cycle of our food," explained Laura Ostenkamp, Vice President, Marketing & Product, at Vitamix.
"We are facing a global food waste crisis, and this technology empowers ordinary families to easily take ownership of the problem, and reduce or eliminate their own food waste stream in a clean and convenient process," said Bradley Crepeau, Chief Executive Officer at Food Cycle Science.
According to the EPA, food is one of the largest categories of household waste, making up 21.5% of all municipal solid waste. By greatly shrinking or eliminating their food waste, families could reduce their overall waste stream by nearly a quarter.
Lightweight, quiet, easy-to-use, and odorless, the Eco 5 is compact, occupying only about 1 cubic foot of space. With its sleek profile and rounded edges, it can be stored anywhere with a nearby outlet, from the countertop to under the sink, in the garage or in a closet.
The 5-liter collection bucket is removable and can be moved around the kitchen wherever it is convenient to gather food waste. When you are ready to process the food waste, simply place the bucket in the Eco 5 and press the start button.
The Eco 5 works by quietly pulverizing the food waste while at the same time aerating and heating it. The result is a dry, nutrient-rich soil amendment that can be used for gardening applications.
The Eco 5's unique grinding system is so effective that it can break down nearly every type of food waste – including meat, bones, and shells – into a dry, fine powder.
The Eco 5 comes with a three-year warranty and is available at vitamix.com for $599.95 USD/$819.95 CAD. For photos of the Eco 5, go here.
About Vitamix
The Vitamix family of companies, privately held and family-owned since 1921, is now in its 102nd year and continuing the commitment to healthy, whole-food eating. Millions of people around the world employ Vitamix machines as a means of preparing nutritious foods in their home kitchens. The company also manufactures high-performance blenders and accessories for commercial kitchens. The company's commercial customer list reads like a "Who's Who" of major restaurant chains, and gourmet chefs say their Vitamix machines are as important to them as their knives. The company developed the first true commercial blender in the early 1990s, which ignited the smoothie movement, and has been named the Best in Class Overall beverage blender for nine consecutive years by readers of Foodservice Equipment & Supplies magazine. Vitamix continues to win awards for its products, culture, and user experience, and is found in more than 130 countries. The company is headquartered in Olmsted Township, Ohio, near Cleveland. For more information, please visit us at vitamix.com.
About Food Cycle Science Corporation
Food Cycle Science Corporation believes the food waste crisis can be solved if people have access to the right science-backed tools. The company offers solutions for households, municipalities and commercial entities, including a line of high-volume commercial FoodCycler machines and programs for municipalities that can save up to 50% in food waste costs. Food Cycle Science holds several international patents for its technology, including the one-of-a-kind Vortech™ grinding system employed in the Eco 5. The company is Canadian-owned and based in Ottawa, Ontario. For more information, visit https://foodcyclescience.com.
1 Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food's environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987-992. Cited in Our World in Data.
SOURCE Vitamix
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