REB 141: He Reinvented the Garbage Disposal. Seriously.

Did you know the garbage disposal is supposed to be one of the most environmentally friendly appliances in your house, but no one uses it correctly, because we all fear the hassle of clogged drains?  Composer has changed the game.  It's time to grind again.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And off we go, man. All right, Tim Ketchum. Welcome to Real Estate Bites. I really appreciate you joining me today to talk about this product. Um, real quick, uh, so what got you into this, man? So you designed a brand new garbage disposal. What made you think, dude, I need to design a brand new garbage disposal?

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Yeah, uh, so the answer to that is uh it wasn't me. It was my co-founder. He's the one who's like, I got a disposal idea. And that came around like pretty, pretty oddly, right? Like, we're big environmental people, um, live in the Bay Area, we compost, we do all that stuff. But my co-founder, Kevin, uh brilliant engineer, hates composting because it's a huge pain in the neck, right? Like, he's like, Oh, I have all this smelly trash, I have to do this. It's like a whole layer of work where he is like, this is annoying to me. And then so his pet theory was for a long time that maybe composting wasn't actually good for the environment. It's just this thing that was a huge pain in the neck and that you did anyway. We did he did a bunch of research on this, he was absolutely incorrect. Composting is quite good for the environment, but it is still a huge pain in the neck. And so he's like, Okay, well, what can I do that is both good for the environment and easier? And obviously, everyone knows that garbage disposals exist, they're a huge thing in America. 60% of households have one. Um, and he did some research about that, and we were like, okay, so garbage disposals actually quite good for the environment, like almost as good as composting, uh, way easier. Um, why don't people actually use them? 60% of households have one, only 15% of food waste goes down a garbage disposal, only 4% goes to composting. So, like people are already selecting for them. Uh, but why is that? So we talk to everyone we know, we use we have used them ourselves, and we came up with this whole list of issues, right? They're loud, they're smelly, uh, they're hard to clean. Uh, people are worried about them from a safety perspective, people worried about them clogging their pipes. Um, and all of these things are just like, okay, so it's just a product problem. This is a thing that anyone can fix if they sit down and actually design one of these things in 2026 instead of you know 1936. And so that's what we did. So he we spent months working on this, we built some prototypes, we looked at it and decided that we had an idea that I think really works and people would really love. And so we've been working on it ever since.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Right on, man. So let me pull this up so that everyone can see exactly what we're talking about. So bring into the stage right now. There it is. That's the composer. So, Tim, tell me about this. Like, you know, I I was always under the impression, it sounds to me like I'm dead wrong here, that you can't put solids into a garbage disposal, even though it's meant to grind it all up and flush it through your stuff. You can't put solids in because it'll break, it'll clog everything, all that kind of stuff. And you know, so I I never do. I mean, we use it, but not like that. So, what's different about the composer?

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yeah, so uh growing up, it was the same way. Like if a little bit of food got flushed in there, like some rice or something, you're like, great, hit the disposal, it'll go away. It's good, right? You can put anything you want in a disposal, assuming the disposal is adequately powerful enough. Um, ours has some special tricks on there, so it's much less likely. But the idea that you can't put food waste down your disposal um just is not true. I mean, assuming that you are on city water, they have wastewater treatment plants that break down waste just like they do from other sources in your house, like the toilet. And so it's designed to take organic matter and break it up and uh at the wastewater treatment plant. So all you got to do is get it there. How do you get it there? Uh use a garbage disposal. And what is special about ours? Well, um, there are disposals, they come in a whole variety of powers. It's basically the only way that you can differentiate one on the market now is well, you can get a 100 horsepower or one half or three quarters or one horsepower. Um, and that matters. A stronger one is less likely to jam, but ultimately isn't that important. Nonetheless, ours is one horsepower, right? As as good as you possibly need, you could put a whole rack of ribs down here if you wanted to. Um, and then beyond that, to help get this food down there, we added enzyme injection. We added some other features to fix all the other stuff I talked about. But for taking care of the food waste, the other big thing is uh enzyme injection and an automatic water flush. So uh rather than have to run your sink, how much am I running it while I'm operating it? I don't know. Am I running too much? Am I wasting water? Am I not running enough? Am I gonna clog my pipes? Water is injected automatically into the grind chamber at the correct amount whenever the disposal is operating. So that's one. And two, the enzyme injection. So on a regular basis, enzymes are injected into your garbage disposal. Uh, they're bioenzymes. So the theory behind this is hey, a dishwasher sees a ton of food waste but doesn't clog despite having a tiny outlet. Why? Dish detergent is just bioenzymes, it's just enzymes that break down food waste. Um, and so we inject those twice a day into your disposal. They keep your disposal smelling better, they keep it cleaner, and they break down clogs in your pipes before they even start. So that's the the theory behind that. Um, so from like a functional perspective, ours is better than anything in the market. From a user experience perspective, also better than anything in the market. So, yeah, this is this is basically the the theory behind it. Uh break it down powerfully, put in enzymes, and then flush it away rather than just like running your sink. Um, if you go up, I can talk about like why it's better in every other way, too. Because it is, it is also just from a user experience perspective. This is what we're real proud of as well. Um, so that starts with like the metallic drain iris. I hate, I hate. I understand that there are different disposals, some have like a plug and stuff, but the user experience has never made sense in this way to me, is in there's like a rubber gasket and I have to physically push food through it. So disgusting food is like rubbing on this rubber thing, which then sits in your sink forever, smelly and garbage and bad. Why? Uh we've replaced it with the stainless steel metallic drain iris. Normally it sits partially open in your sink. Um, so when you're using your sink normally, water flows down, little food bits flow down, but you're not gonna lose a spoon down there. When you actually want to put food down your disposal, it should be as easy as possible. You lift up on our handle, the just the iris opens completely, the food just falls right in. No effort, no mess, no problem. When you're ready to grind, you push down, the iris closes completely, uh, which means it's totally safe. It cannot operate without uh that iris totally closed. If my hand is in there while you're trying to close that iris, it will not close and it will not run. Great, super safe. Everyone loves it. Um, and then also with that door closed, it's much, much quieter. So when you push down this handle, it closes, grinds up, 20 decibels quieter than a normal disposal on the market. It's just a really, really pleasant, nice experience. It's a it feels like it was designed for a modern kitchen in a way that I've never seen a disposal feel.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

So nice. So I'll tell you, man, um, between the ages of 24 and 30, I lived in Flagstaff, Arizona, and I tell people, while out there, I got my official tree hugger certification. And uh, so you know, I'm still that guy that like I turn this the shower off when I'm soaping up, right? If I'm not actually rinsing, I'm not running water because I want to conserve that. Um, you said that using a garbage disposal is good for the environment. Educate us how how is that a benefit to the environment?

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Great. So if you can compost, you should compost. Like I will never tell you not to. Um, but you can't compost everything, and most people in America don't. Truly, 96% of food waste in America isn't composted. A garbage disposal is the much better second option because the option for most people is either I compost it and they don't, or I throw it in the trash. If it goes into the trash, it goes to the landfill, it goes to the landfill, it breaks down anaerobically, releases a ton of methane. Methane is super bad for the environment. Uh, massive climate change implications and is just a huge issue that we are struggling to fix. Most landfills don't get capped. Once they get capped, um, they do capture the methane, but that takes four to seven years. And so you're just releasing methane into the atmosphere for years and years and years and years. If you use a disposal, what happens is that food waste goes down your pipes, it goes away, it is in the system, breaking down for only a matter of a few hours before it gets to that wastewater treatment plant, or then it goes into a big tank. The solids are separated out, they go into this big tank, and then they are intentionally broken down, right? Just like they would in the landfill over time. They're heat, they're heated, and then that methane is released, but it's captured. So the wastewater treatment plant captures that from the anaerobic digester and either uses that methane for one of two things. Either it uses it's used to power the wastewater treatment plant, wastewater treatment plants have huge power requirements. Um you're offsetting that. So good, you're catching that methane, you're burning it, you're using it to power the wastewater treatment plant. Or if you have a very fancy one like one in Brooklyn from a couple of years ago, they actually take that and they turn it back into natural gas, which is then piped back into people's homes to help heat them. So you're offsetting power requirements for other things, and you're not releasing this methane into the atmosphere. It's really a win-win.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Interesting. So listen, folks, um, not only does it look cool, not only is it new, innovative, um, but yeah, it's quieter, it's more effective, it's powerful, and it does a better job. And you can feel confident dumping all the crap off of your plate into this garbage disposal, grinding it up and sending it away, and it's going to be good. So these enzymes that you have to break down um the food, tell me about how long do those enzymes last? Is it something that happens automatically with the machine? Um, how long does it last? How do you refill it, etc.?

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Yeah, so uh we have tuned the injection. Uh one of those bottles will last three months almost exactly. Uh it needs to be replaced every three months. Um, but you can do that. We'll either offer you a subscription where you they'll just show up every three months, you'll know exactly then, or you'll be able to buy them at Amazon or retail or whatever it looks like. Um, we'll make it as easy as possible. I am not trying to gouge you on these. I promise you I would sell them for free if I could, but I can't. Um, so they'll be very competitively priced. Um, it'll be uh I'm I'm not trying to gouge you on like a monthly subscription where you're paying $30 a month for your garbage disposal. The war, the garbage disposal, I also will promise you, will never stop grinding food. It will not shut off without the enzymes. The enzymes are just there to improve the experience, keep it clean and they keep the food flowing.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

I was just gonna ask you that. So let's say that that somebody buys this and for whatever reason they decide they don't want to buy the enzymes, they don't want to, you know, um, this thing's gonna continue working. 100%. It's going to, you know, so what is the benefit of the enzymes? You said earlier it's gonna make the the it smell better. So basically it's gonna help clean out that garbage disposal, right? Breaks it down, helps it so when you flush it, you're getting a cleaner flush. There's nothing gonna be sticking around, and and it's not gonna gather stinky crud. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Your disposal will be cleaner, it'll smell better, and it will keep your pipes cleaner as well, down from the disposal. And if you don't see value in it, then don't keep subscribing. Uh the disposal will keep working, I promise you.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Fair enough. So, man, we're getting down to the end of this. Um, very cool. Uh, Tim, talk to me about numbers. Um, tell me about what these products cost. Uh, talk to me about the subscription and then any sort of guarantees that you guys have.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Yeah. Um, so let's start from the top. Uh, the MSRP for one of these is $599. If you pre-order from our website, acknowledging that we are not able to ship them quite yet, but we will be shipping later this year. We'll give you a $100 discount on that. We'll ship one to you for $499 with six months of enzymes included. Um, enzyme subscription. Uh we're still sort of figuring that out exactly uh what our our costs will be. It'll be we're targeting about $15 every three months for the enzymes. Um, and then uh warranty-wise, we will match, we're matching whatever in sync readers best in classes. You get eight years, I think, um, of uh no no fault replacement. If uh if it breaks, we'll give you a new one.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

All right. And so when do you expect these things to hit the market mainstream?

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Uh we expect that we will be shipping these things out in uh uh early to mid-October currently, but that's still obviously up in the air with supply chain and stuff like that. But that's that's our goal. We'll have these things out for you in just a few months.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

All right, folks. You heard it here first on real estate bites. Tim and his team have developed and innovated a new garbage disposal that is quieter, more powerful, and more environmental friendly. And uh you it'll be 600 bucks for this new product, um, an eight-year guarantee that it's gonna function beautifully. And uh 15 bucks every three months is what they hope to be able to sell the enzymes for. Um, and if you order now, then you could get this uh this product for $100 off. So very, very cool. I'm gonna put your website on here one more time so that people can see it. I don't know if we can scroll up and get the URL in here. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Yeah, you can visit us at composer.me. That's our website. You can reserve you can reserve your your pre-order with us uh right now today, and then we'll get it out to you as soon as they're they're shipping.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Composer.me. All right, folks. Thank you very much, Tim. Hey man, I appreciate you coming on and showing this to us. Very, very cool. Um, I'm probably gonna order one myself because uh I don't trust the one I have. Uh it does smell, and um I'd like to use it. Uh so thank you very much once again, Tim. I appreciate you coming on, man. Very best of luck to you.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It's been a real pleasure. All right, excellent.