Mill and Amazon team up to launch industry-first food waste innovation at Whole Foods Market stores
Rhea-AI Summary
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Mill announced an industry-first partnership to deploy Mill Commercial at Whole Foods Market stores, with rollout starting in 2027.
The system grinds, dehydrates, and measures fruit and vegetable scraps, reducing waste volumes by up to 80%, producing a dry feed ingredient intended for Whole Foods private-label egg suppliers, and aiming to lower hauling costs and carbon emissions. Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund made an investment to enable deployment. The project supports Whole Foods Market's goal to cut food waste in half by 2030.
Positive
- Amazon Climate Pledge Fund investment to enable deployment
- Waste volume reduction of up to 80%
- Deployment starting in 2027 to produce chicken feed ingredient
- AI-powered real-time food-waste measurement for smarter ordering
Negative
- None.
News Market Reaction
On the day this news was published, AMZN gained 0.01%, reflecting a mild positive market reaction.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus
AMZN was down 1.61% while peers like BABA -2.02%, JD -1.6%, and SE -2.77% also declined, suggesting broader Internet Retail softness even though momentum scanners did not flag a sector-wide move.
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 08 | Entertainment rankings | Positive | -1.1% | IMDb released 2025 popularity lists based on 250M monthly visitors. |
| Dec 04 | Cloud partnership | Positive | -1.5% | Zilliz chose AWS as strategic cloud provider for global vector databases. |
| Dec 04 | Chip launch | Positive | -1.5% | AWS introduced Graviton5 and M9g instances with higher performance. |
| Dec 03 | AI tools update | Positive | -0.9% | AWS added new AI customization features to Bedrock and SageMaker. |
| Dec 03 | Developer tools launch | Positive | -0.9% | Supabase and AWS launched new S3-based storage and ETL products. |
Recent AMZN headlines with generally positive or neutral business developments have been followed by modestly negative 24h price reactions in all recorded cases.
Over the past weeks, AMZN news focused on AWS partnerships, chip innovation, and developer tools. On Dec 3–4, 2025, AWS announced new AI customization features, Graviton5, and collaborations with Supabase and Zilliz, all aimed at better performance and cost efficiency, yet 24h moves ranged from about -0.87% to -1.48%. The current sustainability-focused Whole Foods collaboration follows this pattern of strategic announcements against a backdrop of short-term price softness.
Market Pulse Summary
This announcement highlights Amazon’s push to enhance Whole Foods Market operations with Mill’s AI-enabled food waste technology, targeting in-store conversion of scraps into chicken feed starting in 2027 and potential waste volume reductions of up to 80%. It extends prior innovation-focused headlines by adding a sustainability and efficiency dimension. Investors may watch for future disclosures on deployment scope, cost impacts, and how such initiatives integrate with broader AWS and retail strategies.
Key Terms
climate pledge fund financial
circular supply chain technical
feedstock technical
ai technical
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund is investing in Mill to build on its existing technology to develop a commercial device that will prevent food waste at scale, reduce costs, and enable operational efficiencies starting with Whole Foods Market
This groundbreaking initiative marks the grocery industry's first on-site food waste conversion technology, enabling food waste to be converted into chicken feed in store before sending to suppliers for closed loop opportunities. It sets an ambitious standard for the grocery industry by transforming food scraps once considered "waste" into a new, valuable feedstock. The collaboration creates value at every stage in Whole Foods Market's operations – from suppliers to customers.
Mill Commercial will precisely and automatically measure and characterize the fruit and vegetable scraps, helping to enable smarter inventory decisions and optimized ordering patterns. Its advanced dehydration process can also reduce waste volumes by up to
"We're excited to collaborate with Mill on its innovative commercial scale technology that will help us reduce food waste and operate more efficiently," said Jason Buechel, VP Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores and CEO, Whole Foods Market. "This first-of-its-kind collaboration enables us to minimize waste while building a more circular supply chain that benefits our customers, communities, and environment."
Building on the success of its residential food recycler, Mill will bring its technology to the commercial sector. Like the residential product, Mill's larger scale device grinds and dehydrates food scraps, transforming them into dry, odorless, and shelf-stable Food Grounds. The output can be used for a number of different applications. Mill's commercial system also enables significant reductions in hauling and infrastructure costs over time, and is expected to cut carbon emissions associated with food waste management.
Mill Commercial brings advanced AI capabilities into the physical realm of grocery and food service businesses. Mill's approach uses AI to track and measure food waste in real time to identify what's being thrown away, how much, and how best to reuse the resource. Mill Commercial empowers businesses to get smarter on their food supplies and operations, providing insights and opportunities for improvements and efficiencies.
"Until now, there has been no advanced technology solution to tackle the problem of food waste at commercial scale. With Mill Commercial, we are combining our innovative hardware with data and insights powered by AI to make it easier to dramatically reduce food waste in the grocery sector and beyond, turning what was 'waste' into a resource we can use," said Matt Rogers, Cofounder and CEO of Mill. "Our approach will deliver significant operational and financial benefits, not just environmental ones. This collaboration with Amazon will set a new standard for the industry, and we are excited to launch Mill Commercial with a trailblazing and mission-driven brand like Whole Foods Market."
"Utilizing Mill's intelligent, connected, and distributed infrastructure helps customers reduce food waste, scale a more circular supply chain, and achieve greater operational efficiency. We've been following Mill since inception and are thrilled to invest now to support the development and deployment of their commercial technology at Whole Foods Market and beyond," said Thomas Selby, Investor at the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund.
Whole Foods Market sets a high bar for more responsible and sustainable grocery shopping as part of its purpose to nourish people and the planet. This collaboration is also an important step toward Whole Foods Market's goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030.
About Mill Industries Inc. ("Mill")
Mill is a waste prevention technology company, and was founded in 2020 by Matt Rogers and Harry Tannenbaum, who worked together at Nest, building the iconic Nest Learning Thermostat and other smart home products. The lessons they learned about encouraging new habits at home that are good for people and the planet were applied in creating Mill to change our perception of waste, starting in the kitchen. Mill is a trademark of Mill Industries Inc. Follow Mill on Instagram.
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mill-and-amazon-team-up-to-launch-industry-first-food-waste-innovation-at-whole-foods-market-stores-302642994.html
SOURCE Mill Industries Inc.
FAQ
What did Amazon announce about Mill and Whole Foods Market on December 16, 2025?
How much food waste can Mill Commercial reduce at Whole Foods stores?
What will Mill Commercial produce from Whole Foods fruit and vegetable scraps?
When will Whole Foods start processing in-store scraps with Mill technology?
How does Mill Commercial help Whole Foods' operations and suppliers?
Does this partnership support Whole Foods Market's 2030 waste goal?
