Whirlpool's food recycler makes composting a high-tech venture

This is Zera, a $1,199 "food recycler"/composter.

Zera is a plug-in kitchen appliance designed to turn your table scraps into fertilizer.

Simply slide open the lid and drop in your food.

Zera is designed to hold up to 8 pounds of food -- that's roughly the food waste a family of four creates in a typical week.

This gizmo senses when you add food and will automatically initiate a 2-minute process to push the food to the bottom of the built-in bin after you've closed the door.

Before you press start, toss in one of WLabs' bags of coconut husk pellets (a four-pack costs $12).

They help speed up the food-to-fertilizer process.

After that, you can press start either on Zera directly or through the related app.

Zera's software doesn't currently support third-party smart home integrations.

Zera relies on airflow, high heat, internal mechanical action and the package of coconut husks to grind down the food and turn it into fertilizer.

Check out the finished product.

It can take anywhere from 16 to 24 hours to complete a cycle.

You should get roughly 2 pounds of fertilizer for 8 pounds of food waste.

The Zera Food Recycler is currently in the prototype stage, but an Indiegogo campaign is slated to launch in January 2017 with early adopter pricing starting at $699.