By: Will Roth Food waste makes up over 20% of material in landfills. Once there, it is surrounded by inorganic materials and lacks the airflow needed to break down. Instead, it releases methane, which is at least 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Putting our food waste in the trash is the absolute last resort. Luckily, for many of us, there is an environmentally-beneficial alternative that is just as easy. In many areas, food scraps can be disposed of in the same bin as your yard waste. That means that a solution for preventing greenhouse gases from entering our atmosphere may be as simple as placing your food waste in the green bin instead of the black bin.
I live in Los Angeles, where the city’s Sanitation Department accepts uncooked food scraps (not including meat, fish, or eggs) along with yard waste. These materials are composted along with other sources of organic waste like manure from herbivores at the LA Zoo. Exotic! Once the compost is complete, the product is bagged and sold under the brand name “TopGro.” In the neighboring city of Manhattan Beach, Waste Management has a program through which both commercial and residential food waste is actually converted into renewable energy. Residents bag their scraps and place them in the green bin. From there, the materials are sorted and taken to a CORe (Centralized Organic Recycling) facility. The materials are turned into a slurry, which is then taken to wastewater treatment plants where it aids in creating energy. According to Waste Management, each ton of food waste can power eight to ten homes. There are four CORe facilities in the U.S. In many cases, the systems to break down food waste in an environmentally-beneficial way already exist. Unfortunately, not enough people know about them. I spoke with several members of my community and no one was aware that our food scraps could be recycled with yard waste. I didn’t even know about it until a few weeks ago. Now, I keep a container with a lid in my kitchen solely for scraps, which I empty into the green bin once it gets full. The change to my routine has been minor, and although the impact is difficult to quantify, it’s something. It’s important to keep in mind that this option should be considered an alternative to the landfill. But there are other achievable ways to positively impact the environment with the decisions we make on a daily basis. Kathryn Kellog has listed several tips from shopping habits to storage practices. These can help us stop food waste before it happens. The next best thing is to compost. This allows for food waste to break down without creating methane, because the microbes that produce methane are not active in the presence of oxygen. Additionally, compost is proven to accelerate plant growth, meaning that your plants can more rapidly pull carbon dioxide out of the air and sequester it in the soil. Free fertilizer that saves the planet is a win-win! For a guide to starting your own compost pile, check out this guide. If you don’t have the space to compost, there are innumerable community composting sites where you could deposit your scraps. Usually these are located in community gardens or parks. Search for community composting sites in your area and you’ll likely find something close by. With all of that said, some of us might not always be able to compost our food scraps. Many community composting sites are currently closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Others may be too far. Sometimes, life simply gets in the way and we can’t make time. That’s okay! It doesn’t mean that those food scraps have to be placed in the trash destined for the landfill. For now, proper disposal of food waste can be a good start, and separating your food scraps from the rest of your trash is a good habit to build. Eventually, the prospect of contributing to a community compost pile or starting your own may seem more achievable. Since organic recycling programs vary by region, it’s important to look up the policies where you live. If you don’t see the information online, reach out to your local municipality. Once you have a definite answer, spread the word in your community. If organics recycling isn’t available yet, it may be soon. California has committed to reducing methane output substantially by this year, meaning that more cities will be forced to provide these services. We may not all be able to compost, but we can almost certainly prevent food waste from going to landfills. Shrinking our personal carbon footprints is easier than many of us thought.
23 Comments
8/25/2021 07:53:18 am
This a brilliant way to reduce waste. Amazing
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8/29/2022 07:54:46 am
I have a bunch of extra food that's gone bad, and I'm not sure what to do about it. It makes sense that I would want to get a food waste removal to help me out. They would be able to ensure that it's properly recycled.
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10/17/2022 04:36:43 pm
I didn't know that somethings could produce methane when buried. Is that the case with a computer? I don't really know how to get rid of hard drives and such.
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11/18/2022 10:54:05 am
I love how you talk about how great it is to turn food waste into compost but not everyone has the resources to turn it into compost. My partner and I want to start reducing our food waste but we don't have anything to turn it into compost so we've been looking to find a place we can send it to.
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11/21/2022 05:40:27 am
It was most captivating when you shared that there is a system that breaks down food waste in an eco-friendly way. My friend wants to properly manage their waste. I should advise him to seek help from a firm that uses the eco friendly way of waste management.
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12/12/2022 02:05:19 pm
Awesome information. Please update me or email me for latest posts. Thanks!
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12/12/2022 03:30:25 pm
Thank you for sharing this insightful article.
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12/12/2022 07:59:53 pm
Love this so much. Looking forward to the next one!
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12/12/2022 11:29:58 pm
I like that you said that 20% of the landfills are food wastes from commercial and residential. Yesterday, my uncle told me that he was planning to hire a waste management solution to have proper trash collection for their home, and he asked if I had any other ideas on what would be the best option to do. Thanks to this helpful article, I'll be sure to tell him that they can consult a well-known waste management service as they can provide information about the waste management process.
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12/20/2022 05:30:24 pm
Diaper Recycling Technology® recycling machines solve the separation of bio waste such as human excretion that come together with soiled diapers and recovers the plastics, pulp, SAP and compost.
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2/3/2023 07:14:39 pm
I'm glad you talked about how you could prevent greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere at your home by having a proper waste management bin. A few nights ago, my brother informed me he planned to hire a waste management solution for an effective trash collection for their residence. He asked if I had ideas on the best option for the environmental safety function. Thanks to this helpful article, I'll tell him they can consult a waste management service as they can provide details about the waste management process.
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2/7/2023 09:14:50 am
Great article. Thanks for sharing this insightful post
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2/23/2023 12:07:32 am
An excellent overview of the benefits of composting and how to start composting. This is a great resource for those who want to reduce their carbon footprint and do their part to prevent food waste from ending up in landfills. Thanks for the informative article!
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8/14/2023 02:35:57 am
Such an informative article! Food waste is a significant environmental issue, and it's great to learn about the various eco-friendly options for handling it. I didn't know that many areas offer organic recycling, and the positive impact is inspiring. Let's continue spreading the word and working towards shrinking our carbon footprints. Small changes can make a big difference!
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9/25/2023 12:38:30 am
This article emphasizes the importance of reducing food waste and suggests an easy solution: separating food scraps for recycling. By using local organic recycling programs, we can cut methane emissions from landfills. It's a small change with a significant impact, and it's encouraging to see such efforts gaining momentum for a more sustainable future.
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