Sending back Food Grounds is optional, and how you use Food Grounds is up to you.
If you decide to use Food Grounds in your garden, you should be aware of the volume of Food Grounds you are generating and the needs of your garden (e.g., garden size, weather, etc.). You can send us excess Food Grounds anytime. For backyard composting, you will need to add water to your dried-and-ground Food Grounds before adding them to your pile, which may cause mold, odor, or attract critters.
So if you’d like to feed your garden, go for it! But just remember the best-for-the-climate use of Food Grounds are to: (1) send your Food Grounds to Mill so we can get them back to farmers as food for chickens, or (2) feed them to your backyard chickens (if you have them). Why? In each case you are avoiding both landfill and feed production emissions as well as the resources (water, effort, time) required to produce feed. If you decide to use Food Grounds in your garden or add them to your city-provided bin, you’re avoiding landfill emissions only. Learn more about the climate impact of Mill at mill.com/LCA.
Finally, despite what so-called electric ‘composting devices' claim, they don’t produce compost. Managing dried and ground food in your home garden is a process and doesn’t happen with just the push of a button and sprinkling dried food over plants. You can learn more in this BioCycle article from Dr. Sally Brown, a compost expert, Research Professor at the University of Washington, and an advisor to Mill.