Episode #111: The Best Tech I Purchased Last Year
Trust me: it's not what you think!
The Big Insight
During my six months away from writing this newsletter and from technology in general, a curious thing happened. I began cooking a lot more. Although that doesn't seem like a major life event, stay with me here because all of that extra time in the kitchen led me to a powerful realization:
Even when I’m away from my laptop and mobile device, I am still surrounded by all kinds of technology.
Tech wasn’t just a computer, but any tool that was created to help make life easier or more manageable. And the moment I realized that, I looked around my home and found all KINDS of tech that I’d previously overlooked: cars, lights, electricity, ovens, blenders, ladders, wheelbarrows, BBQs, knives, toaster ovens, pencils and markers, fire, stairs, locks on doors, and so much more.
We are surrounded by technology: I’ve just been lulled into a sense of complacency about it. As a result, I’ve spent nearly ALL of my time here with you talking about only two or three kinds and focusing nearly exclusively on convenience, privacy and security.
I’ve neglected to acknowledge that security, privacy, and convenience can also apply to many other kinds of technology. I don’t think that serves my readers, especially at a time when the world is so rapidly changing.
So I’d like to share about some of the other kinds of tech that have made my family’s life easier and also helped us change our impact on the world in major ways this year.
Throwing It All Away… Literally
I was wheeling out our garbage to curb one weekday morning last December and marveled at the amount of trash that my wife, son, and I generated that week. Two to three large trash bags full of “stuff”. Most of that stuff fell into two categories:
Items like plastic bags and wrapping, plastic food containers and their lids, along with other materials that weren’t accepted by our recycle company.
Food waste like banana peels, eggshells, plate scraps, bones, the cut off parts of fruit, coffee grounds, apple cores, and SO much more…
I vowed to find various tools or approaches to help reduce or eliminate what we were contributing to the world’s landfills. Because, for those of you who aren’t yet aware: there is no “solution” when we toss our trash. It doesn’t disappear. It goes to landfills. And those landfills are getting bigger and bigger. How big? How about 2200 acres chock full of our garbage in Nevada?
I vowed to use technology wherever I could to help reduce our contribution to this local and global problem.
Is this approach to leaning into technology the same as eliminating security threats or email scams? No. Obviously. But can we use technology to help our immediate, non-digital world? YES.
So here’s what I did…
Prevent the Food Waste
I realized early in the process that if we were going to throw away less waste, we’d need to reduce or eliminate the large amount of food waste we were tossing. Although our county picked up yard waste, they did not - at that time - allow food waste to be placed in those bins. I’d need another solution, so I turned to composting.
I’d need a specific piece of tech that would be easy-to-use, convenient, odor-free, bug & vermin-free, quiet & able to be located close to or even inside of our kitchen.
Because of where we live, year-round composting is challenging. As a result, traditional hand-crank composters wouldn’t work for us: they take 4-8 weeks in the Summer to fully compost food waste (far longer in the winter), attracted too many bugs, had to be kept outside or in our garage, and STANK.
I found a far better solution, although it wasn’t cheap at $900. But…
I am highly recommending it to you because, after one full year of daily use, it’s become one of the best pieces of tech that I’ve ever purchased.
The Geme Composter
Geme is the worlds first ever biological composting machine. Instead of creating dried up, dehydrated waste, the GEME Composter (affiliate link here) breaks down food waste using a microbial digestion powder called Kobold. Ingenious.
Fun bonus: if you have cats — and why shouldn’t you?!?! — you can toss your cat poop into the Geme along with your food scraps.
What We Love:
It’s a VERY quiet device. At just 40db, all you’ll be able to hear is a small fan, and even that’s hard to hear, even if you’re chatting with someone right next to the unit.
We keep it in our kitchen, so it’s right by where our food waste is generated, so it’s easy for us to use and access.
There is no smell. I’m shocked that this claim proved to be true, but it absolutely is. No one can tell by smell that we are composting in our kitchen. As a result, we don’t have to deal with bugs or vermin.
It’s so easy to use that our 6 year old knows how to put in his food and take out the finished compost and add it to the soil in our garden.
There are no filters that need replacing. The only thing that requires repurchasing is your yearly restocking of Geme’s Kobold packs. These are the microbiota that digest all of your food waste.
Food is fully “digested” and composted in 6-8 hours instead of 4-8 weeks. I know that sounds insane but it’s 100% true. And the compost itself (shown in the images above) is rich, loamy/losse, and is very easy to mix in with soil.
It easily composts any soft food waste including meats, cheese & yoghurt, fruits, veggies, etc.
Where It Can Fall Short:
The Geme is electric. Therefore, if you lose power, you’re no longer composting. Outdoor turn-and-crank composters don’t have this issue.
The Geme — like other “in-house” composters — can’t compost harder items like eggshells, avocado skins, bones, grape stems, etc.
The price is $900 which is a LOT of money for most people
Final Analysis
The Geme has been 100% worth it for us. It’s reduced our food waste by 95%. And those last 5%? Well, now that our county finally allows residents to compost those items with yard waste, we’ve eliminated all food waste from our home! That’s a huge win.
Even better, we’re now using the Geme compost to fertilize our garden, growing our own food and then letting the cycle continue.
Prevent the Plastic Waste & Carcinogens
Like many others, I decided that we needed to get rid of most or all of our single use tools and replace them with more capable and reusable alternatives. Additionally, we’ve nearly eliminated plastic as (a) it doesn’t last very long compared to glass or metal and (b) it leaches toxins into food.
For similar reasons, we moved away from using non-stick or teflon surfaces of any kind. Why? Because as my friend Mariah’s just released book “They Poisoned the World” makes clear: the chemicals used to make stain-resistant clothes, non-stick cookware, and other easy-to-clean “conveniences” in our homes today are, actually, chock full of cancer-causing chemicals.
What we did included:
Moving from Ziplock bags to these reusable silicone bags (affiliate link here) so we no longer throw bags away.
Moving from plastic Tupperware to these glass food storage bins (affiliate link here).
Moving on from saran wrap to cover bowls to these reusable silicone “stretch” covers (affiliate link here) and these reusable lids for pots, pans, and larger bowls (affiliate link here). We also now these reusable bees wax food wraps (affiliate link here).
We tossed all of our teflon/non-stick frying pans and replaced them with these cast iron pans (affiliate link here) and cast iron dutch ovens (affiliate link here) from Lodge, and this special buy from Le Creuset (affiliate link here)
We now use a metal mesh coffee filter (affiliate link here) on our drip coffee machine instead of the one made of plastic that came with it.
We replaced our toddler’s plastic cups with these super fun and colorful wheat straw cups (affiliate link here). Ditto for his snack boxes which are now made out of metal (affiliate link here)
One important note about the use of solid silicone products: don’t use any silicone cookware at temperatures above 428°F (220°C) as it will break down chemically and become unsafe. Therefore, do NOT use anything I’ve mentioned above in the oven, microwave, or on the grill.
Alternate Recycling
Where we live, there’s a local chain of organic/healthy grocery stores — New Seasons! — who provide drop off containers where anyone can “donate” all clear plastic containers and lids (like the kinds that much of our food comes in) along with all kinds of clear plastic bags. We set up two extra trash bags at home for those items and then, once a month, I drop them off at the nearest store. That - on it’s own - helped reduce at least 25% of the bulk in our garbage to the curb.
Of course, that’s just where we live. So here’s a link so where you can find amazing alternative recycling locations in your neighborhood. Here you’ll find ways to recycle your batteries, cell phones, electronics, and plastic bags!
New Tech, New Tools, New Possibilities
It’s been a small revolution in my life to begin seeing more of the world as available technology. It’s been a shift in awareness that’s led to a shift in the products we buy which reduce or - in some cases - eliminate the problems or challenges we previous had.
What kinds of non-computer tech are you using in your life that’s been available? What kinds of challenges do they make easier? What problems do they reduce or eliminate?
After all, isn’t that what good technology is supposed to do?
Happy Independence Day Holiday to one and all.