Kitchen appliances for sustainable living
For the third decade of the 21st century where IoT devices abound along with a strong focus on AI development, you might be forgiven for expecting a little more in terms of intelligent domestic technology. Whilst smart thermostats, lighting and even fridges are now WiFi connected to simplify our lives, the area of waste management has largely been left on the consumer's shoulders until now.
Happily not for much longer as below are three exciting new products in development and the early stages of production which promise to help us reduce and recycle from the comfort of our own homes, as well as greatly increasing quality of life and stepping us ever closer to the sci-fi future we've been dreaming of.
1. Pela Lomi - Kitchen Composter
Food waste - everybody has it! Whether you diligently prepare each meal from scratch or regularly treat yourself to a takeaway, there's always waste in the form of inedible scraps or forgotten leftovers, the sad part is having to throw that wonderful stuff away!
A lot of local councils offer doorstep recycling which is a good, but not ideal system and many simply do not, meaning it ends up tossed in with the regular land-fill waste. Instead of handing it over to somebody else, Pela have created a nifty home composting solution roughly the size of a bread-maker, called Lomi.
Just throw all your food scraps, coffee grounds, organic waste and approved bioplastics into the machine and press the button to have it quietly turned into compost or soil, perfect for your garden or indoor plants, in as little as 4 hours. As well as creating excellent fertiliser, it also perfectly isolates and neutralises the odours released so no more stinking bags of rotting mess sitting around the house, an absolute win-win!
Still in the early days, Pela are producing machines in batches available for pre-order with $49 deposit and $450 once shipped. June is almost sold out and July orders opened on May 30th and with international shipping available it could be in your home in just a month or two, they even offer a two week money-back guarantee if you're not completely satisfied, so why not give it a try risk free?!
2. Lasso Loop - Home recycling
Speaking of recycling, for almost everything other than food scraps you need the world's first at-home recycling solution - Lasso. This ingenious, washing-machine sized unit is capable of sorting, cleaning and recycling a huge amount of products; HPDE & PET plastics, green, brown or clear glass, aluminium, steel and soon to include LDPE (plastic film), paper, cardboard and organics.
Smart sensors inside the machine quickly identify and sort the material, automatically rejecting anything incompatible and passing the rest through it’s multi-stage process. Once the items are steam cleaned to save water, they’re processed to high purity by grinding, crushing or shredding as appropriate and all while using less electricity than an average dishwasher.
They're then stored until you receive a notification from the app that the container is full and requires kerbside collection, which may be scheduled at your convenience and is expected to be required roughly 3-8 times a year depending on your consumption. The app can even advise on a product’s suitability when you’re out shopping simply by scanning the barcode, it also allows you to monitor the device in real-time to check remaining storage capacity and even the value of materials collected, which in the future may be reimbursed to you!
With pre-launch prices of $3,999 and $5,000 thereafter, it's certainly a substantial investment, but one that promises to massively improve your recycling efficiency by using 100% of compatible materials put in compared to a significantly lower percentage of all items sent for recycling globally, it will truly be the most efficient and convenient method of optimising your waste output. Expected availability starts Q1 2024 for California and Q1 2025 for the rest of the world.
3. Cana One - Molecular drink printer
Probably the most incredible in terms of technology and certainly the closest thing to a Star Trek replicator for the home that I've seen so far, Cana are sparking a revolution in self-service with the world's first molecular drink printer. Their machine, the Cana One, is capable of producing almost any variety of liquid that you can image. Breakfast tea or coffee? You got it. Afternoon sports drink or sparking water? No problem. Evening cocktails or glass of wine? Just a button away.
This futuristic piece of kit fits on your kitchen counter and combines extremely precise amounts of micro-ingredients from a proprietary, replaceable cartridge along with sugar, spirits, carbonation and for the most part water, to create literally thousands of different beverages in a matter of seconds. A touchscreen allows you to customise each ingredient of any drink from the huge selection available, imagine turning down the caffeine for a late-night tea or dropping the sugar from your favourite soft drink and easily saving them to be recalled later whenever you're in the mood. It will also be updated on-the-fly with new options and recipe ideas from the community and new vendors.
It's obvious how this could disrupt the entire drinks industry which is responsible for creating millions of tons of plastic waste every year, but it’s not their natural enemy as ideally they can work together to serve their trademark brands directly to customers through these devices and entirely cut out the unnecessarily wasteful bottling and transportation steps.
Available at $499 for the first 10,000 orders and $799 after that, at an average of $0.29 to $2.99 per drink it can reach cost-equity within just a year or two depending on your usage (which I imagine will be very frequent initially, by testing out the limitless possibilities and showing off to friends!) Sadly it's not yet available in the UK as it requires a subscription service for the cartridge refills, but I'll be keeping a close eye on the company and hope to be able to sign up in the near future.
Whilst these products are right around the corner, more are sure to follow once their popularity is proven and this bodes very well for the average consumer's ability to create meaningful changes to their environmental impact. Not only that, but industries will in turn be forced to react and adopt new methods of delivering their products, further accelerating the transition to a sustainable society and heralding awe-inspiring possibilities for our homes of tomorrow.