Self-cleaning smart trash can for compost

I’m finnicky about the trash system in the house and so far it was manual, I wanted a smarter system, a smart trash can, to manage the compost disposal. This is America, there had to be a solution that complemented my journey to have a smarter home (read more here: general smart devices, smart vacuum cleaner and smart Wi-Fi, and smart switches). With some amount of focused searching, I found the smart trash can. To break this down, let’s start with my problems:

1. We generate a lot of compostable trash (coffee/tea grounds dregs, vegetable/fruit peels, food waste), this generally starts smelling within a day or 2
2. We started using smaller trash bags to fill and throw away compost on an almost daily basis, this became too much work (also, not very clean to deal with)
3. The pace at which my trash cans actually fill up vs they start smelling because of compost was very different which would often mean throwing away almost 75% empty trash bags

Since compost smell was the bigger problem, I started searching for solutions to deal with this. There aren’t a lot of options for a regular condo. I only came across 2 viable solutions, of which only one actually makes sense. Why? because $. The first solution is a viral one:

Vitamix’s food recycler, discontinued, also $400

The Vitamix Food Recycler has/had some interesting features:

1. It heated the compostable trash so it was not longer wet
2. Ground it down to being reusable fertilizer for your garden

The problem(s), obviously the fact that it has been discontinued and that it was also $400. So the search continued till I found the smart trash can that I bought:

TOWNEW T1 smart trash can, available, $100

I love this thing. Yes, I love my trash can. Here’s why:

1. Motion detection lid opening
2. It contains the smell of compost within the trash can, yes, I’ve sniffed around the can and smelled the trash with the lid open (one Amazon reviewer said that they used it, while another said they couldn’t but that could be about what the baby consumed?)
3. It completely seals the trash bag and pops open for me to pick up the sealed bag
4. It automagically replaces the trash bag AND opens up the bag inside perfectly so I don’t have to (see video for what I mean)

Essentially, this smart trash can takes care of my 3 problem statements. There is a catch though, you have to buy Townew’s trash bag refill rings, I’m good with for the convenience $35 for 150 trash bags. Here’s a video of the smart trash can in action (wait till the end to see the perfect trash bag replacement:

Here’s the link to the can and the bag refill:

• TOWNEW T1 Self-Cleaning Auto-Refilling Trash Can
• TOWNEW T1 Refills