Vitamix Eco 5 FoodCycler Review

About the Eco 5 FoodCycler

• Dimensions: 13.5 x 10.9 x 13.8 inches
• Weight: 30 lbs
• Capacity: 5 liters
• Processing Time: 4 to 9 hours
• Color(s): White or slate
• Electrical Ratings: 120V
• Wattage: 500
• Warranty: 3 years

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.

What we like

It’s significantly larger than the previous model

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.

It reduces food waste to a fraction of its original size

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.

It uses carbon pellets 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.

What we don’t like

It might be too big for some people

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 cycles take a long time

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.

Should you buy the Vitamix Eco 5 FoodCycler?

Yes! It’s worth the splurge if you want to reduce food waste.

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.