Lomi is a kitchen composter that turns food scraps, bioplastics and more into nutrient-rich soil while reducing up to 80% of volume. 

Lomi is the solution for reducing waste in your home. Made by the creators of Pela, the world's first compostable phone case, this Canadian-based company is on a mission to create a waste-free future. With Lomi, you are able to turn your household waste into nutrient-rich soil that gives back to the earth with a push of a button.

Jeremy Lang

Lomi

Kitchen & Dining

Home Supplies

Home

Love the idea. Sadly the exception is severely lacking! My Lomi broke a mere 2 months after starting to use it. I submitted a warranty claim which Lomi acknowledged that I am due for a replacement. And then they vanished! No replacement received. They do not reply to emails. And if you call them they say they are not available to take call and you should email instead... Very disappointing. 

A Mixed Bag for Composting.
Lomi promised to revolutionize composting and provide a quick solution to nourish plants, but unfortunately, it fell short of expectations. While the idea of accelerating compost breakdown is enticing, the reality didn't live up to the hype. Instead of enhancing soil health, the product seemed to expedite rotting, resulting in adverse effects on plant growth. It's disappointing that Lomi didn't deliver the transformative results we had hoped for, but I guess you can still use it daily to reduce any smelly compost in your home. Just see if you have a green bin to put all the newly made soil into after.

My Lomi is still working but given the number of buyer reviews which mention device breakdowns, on this and other sites, I probably would not have bought one. Specialist reviewers have also been largely critical of the Lomi, and, for most people, it is certainly no substitute for a proper food/biodegradable waste collection service or a communal food-waste composting facility. I ignored this entirely sound advice as the Lomi IS actually quite a useful ancillary aid to hot composting, especially if you have a lot of eggshells and avocado skins to dispose of (our hot composter has difficulty digesting these).  Also, our composter tends to run a bit too wet and the dry waste produced on the default Lomi setting probably helps with this. 

It is, obviously, an energy-inefficient way of creating compost (or pseudo-compost) and produces quite lot of moisture, leading to excessive condensation in cold weather (I run mine under the cooker extractor-fan hood). It also emits rather peculiar (but not exactly obnoxious) odours.  These vary, doubtless depending on what exactly the Lomi is having for dinner.

If Lomi manages to stay in business in spite of the poor reception of the current product, I might just look at their Mark IV model, although, I'm resigned to my current Lomi Mark I having expired long before then. 

PS 
If you are looking to spend money on a hot-composting accessory, a paper shredder could be a better first choice.

LOMI is considered a kitchen appliance and it takes up a bit of space in the kitchen. If they could come up with a way to make it more space conscious, it would be perfect! 

I truly think this machine is magical. It looks sleek in the machine and really does help with the food waste at my household. I feel so much better putting food scraps into this machine knowing that I’ll get nutritious soil out for my plants! 

I'm really not a fan. 

On top of the hefty $500 price tag, there's a quarterly $39 subscription to keep the Lomi running, which I didn't believe was clearly disclosed. 

Here's the kicker: the only mode on the Lomi that produces "compost" also uses an obscene amount of electricity for an eco-friendly product. The less energy-intensive modes (which are still relatively energy-intensive) don't even produce usable compost for your plants. 

My take: Lomi isn't a sustainable solution to reduce food waste.

Lomi can run for up to 20 hours depending on the cycle that you've chosen. I'd want a more efficient product that can run in less time. To me, that would be a solid tradeoff for any sustainable back peddling. 

Also, it should make real, usable compost - not whatever it makes now.

I had been interested in getting a Lomi because it seemed like a great way to replace my countertop compost bin and finally be done with the wet, leaky green compost bags that line it. I was also looking forward to having nutrient dense compost that I could use for my outdoor and houseplants instead of sending it off to no man's land via my municipal green waste bin. Luckily, I got to try it myself when my girlfriend received one for free through work.

Set up is easy and it has a nice design. It was not something that I minded having out or having to look at frequently. That said, the convenience, intended result, and sustainability promises are just not there. I still found myself using my countertop compost bin and transferring its contents to the Lomi each week and whenever I ran it the end result did not resemble dirt. The "compost" was used on a house plant and it just formed a hard layer on top of the soil and grew mold. I haven't noticed an increase in my bill during the hand full of times that I used it but having an appliance run for 3/4 of the day can't be as sustainable as promised.

Overall, it seems like a solution to a problem that already has the most efficient, effective, and sustainable solution: compost tumblers and outdoor compost piles. These require no electricity, create usable compost, and are extremely simple (if you have the space).

If you have or want chickens that is the best, but I have for 20 + years and needed a break from the care and upkeep.  Lomi has been a great alternative to reducing the volume and side effects (smell/animals).

I had chickens, which I loved.  However, I found that I was spending more energy (heat lamp in winter) and food costs than I wanted to - to include trudging out in the winter for food, watering, and the constant fight against predation.  A local composting pick up company is 30$ a month and also only comes 2 x a month to pick up a stinky buckey of scraps.  I find that the best method for this is to place my resulting Lomi scraps into my garden for tilling after processing in the spring.  The smell is non existent.  I know it is not "formally" compost but it prevents bears, my dogs, and a nasty smell in the house.  

My only feedback is to offer a larger version. 

I cannot remember what life was like before I bought the Lomi! I have 2 daughters who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. So we have a lot of food scraps. So much so that I run my Lomi everyday. I have had it for a little over a year now and have had zero issues with it. We have reduced our trash significantly and now have compost for our gardens. The design is so modern and sleek that I keep it on the countertop and throw scraps in all throughout the day. 

Read other Lomi reviews

Thingtesting Supertester Kela S. shares her honest review of Lomi, an at-home kitchen composter. 

Lomi

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