Mill, a food waste-specific garbage bin, ... The super-early-rate deadline for Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies Awards is Friday, July 25, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.

As before, the bin accepts a wide variety of food waste — only a handful of items like oyster shells are off limits — and grinds and dries it to a consistency that looks like chunky coffee ...

The 2-foot-tall bin needs to be plugged in, but it dries and shrinks the garbage and removes odors from food waste, including meat and dairy. Inside, it features paddles and a small heater.

The app prompts you to name the bin, a silly step but I played along, christening the device Hugo after the food-obsessed pooch owned by GeekWire co-founder John Cook and his family.

But with Mill’s redesigned food waste bin, ... Every night at 10 pm, my bin started a cycle, and by the time I woke up, it was always finished, just as co-founder Matt Rogers promised me.