Mill: The Bin From the Future

It is one of the actions we do the most on any given day and we almost always do it without even thinking: throwing something in the trash can. Waste is an unavoidable fact of modern life, but not all waste is the same. Matt Rogers and Harry Tannenbaum, people who have experience working on innovative products such as the iPhone and Nest Thermostat, are using their expertise and experience to build a product that will change our relationship with the most troubling contents of our garbage: food waste. Together they are building Mill, an in-home solution for tackling this pervasive problem.

The Problem: Eat Everything?

Despite many people being told to always lick their plates clean (I’ve long been a card-carrying member of the clean plate club) by their parents, a huge portion of the food that Americans buy ends up in the trash. It has been found that 40% of the food we grow ends up being wasted and households spend $1,900 on food that goes into the trash every year. This is troubling in a world where there are people who are going hungry, but even from a selfish perspective, throwing almost two grand into the bin feels insane.

The issue of food waste also has downstream effects. Once food finds its way into landfills, it releases methane—an extremely potent greenhouse gas—as it decomposes, accelerating climate change. The negative effect of this is massive—if food waste were a country, only the U.S. and China would emit more. To create a massive economy’s worth of emissions just from throwing away food is clearly something the world should not accept.

Mill’s Solution: Product Mastery

To tackle the problem of food waste, Rogers and Tannenbaum have used their know-how to build a product that allows people to reduce their food waste without really thinking. They understand that to ask people to make a significant change in behavior is asking too much. It is much harder to make people buy less food or store it optimally than it is to tell them to do what they’re already doing; in the case of Mill, their ask is simple: keeping throwing waste in the bin.

Mill is a membership-based platform, but at the heart of it is the Mill kitchen bin. When you join Mill, you get the bin. All you have to do is throw your food waste into the it and it takes care of the rest. The bin processes the waste overnight, turning it into an ingredient for chicken feed. It simply needs to be collected once or twice a month.

Part of Mill’s appeal goes beyond just reducing a household’s footprint. Food waste can pile up fast and households of four people can find themselves taking out the trash almost every day. It can also be stinky, after cooking with fish, for example, taking out the trash is almost a necessity. Even if you can let your trash sit for a few days, it is sure to attract pests like fruit flies and rodents. Mill is a solution to all these issues; it is odor-free, pest resistant, and only needs to be taken out every couple of weeks.

Perhaps the most noticeable part of the bin is its beauty and elegance, and it would fit seamlessly into any kitchen (and likely make it look better). Such characteristics are hardly surprising considering the pedigree of the founders. They have built a product that is aesthetically pleasing and addressing a pressing issue by keeping energy in the food system rather than sending it into the atmosphere.

What Makes Mill a No-Brainer?

Successful companies have a “No-Brainer” quality about them: whatever product or service they offer feels as if it would be unreasonable to not use. Great companies have this quality doubly from both the customer side and the labor side: being a part of the company should also feel like a no-brainer. 

For customers, it is simple: beautify your kitchen, have to take out the trash less, and reduce your footprint. You can even have some fun as you do it. As founders of Nest, Rogers and Tannenbaum found that gamification is an effective way to get people to make environmentally friendly decisions, so they implemented gamification into Mill. Members can track how much food they’ve put into the bin, and thus how much methane they’re keeping out of the atmosphere and how many chickens they’re helping feed. It is especially a no-brainer to anyone already in a composting program who is surely sick of the ugly little bin in their kitchen which smells terrible and is a magnet for pests. For these people, Mill is an obvious upgrade on what they’re already doing. Overall, it is an elegant way for anyone to reduce their impact and the amount of food they waste.

For workers, the opportunity to work under individuals who have a proven history of building attractive products and successful companies is priceless. Anyone who wants to get involved in startups will surely relish the opportunity for such tutelage. These are people who know what it takes—the attitude, the vision, the hustle—to succeed and have hired others who have the necessary qualities. As such, Mill has an exceptional culture and is full of successful and driven individuals with an ambition to match the extensive goals of the company.

Mill is a beautiful solution to one of the huge problems facing humanity. As will be necessary in tackling climate change, it isn’t a pipe dream of some huge change in behavior, but rather makes people’s lives better in a real way while also addressing the issue. It serves as a model for the kind of products and services we need as we build a sustainable future.